Abstract:

In the turn of the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China a new classification for those ancient Chinese books and records began gradually to run parallel to the old method after its break through the framework of four traditional divisions of a Chinese library (i.e. classics, history, philosophy, and belles-letters) . With an introduction of Dewey decimal classification, the classification of ancient Chinese books turned to the modern Western book classification. Owing to a close relation between book classification and knowledge system, changing book classification was not an easy work. It was important in the transformation of the traditional Chinese system of knowledge to the modern Western system of knowledge, and also an important embodiment of the reconstruction of the Chinese system of knowledge in the late Qing period. Accordingly, the process of the substitution of Dewey decimal classification for the four-division classification was a process in which those books classified as four divisions would come under various disciplines in the system of decimal classification, and also a process in which the system of four-division knowledge would be integrated with the modern Western system of knowledge.