Source: Sun Yat-sen University Libraries
Written by: Sun Yat-sen University Libraries
Translated by: YU Jingbing
Proofread by: Dr. ZHOU Yi

From October the 10th to the 11th, the International Symposium on Descriptive Bibliography & Scholarly Editing of Chinese Ancient Books hosted by Sun Yat-sen University Libraries was held on South Campus, SYSU. The attendants, whose number reached nearly 100, are specialists on Descriptive Bibliography & Scholarly Editing of Chinese Ancient Books from domestic organizations in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Shen Xieyuan, a famous Chinese scholar in the field of Descriptive Bibliography approaching his nineties and Wang Guichen aged 84 are also among the attendants. The symposium was addressed by Professor Cheng Huanwen, Director of Sun Yat-sen University Libraries, Ms. Chen Hongyan, deputy director of Ancient Books Library of National Library of China (NLC) and Dr. Sören Edgren, head of the Chinese Rare Books Project at Princeton University. Specialists and scholars attending the symposium engaged themselves in heated discussions and reported their recent research discoveries on issues such as the collection and categorization of Chinese ancient books and documents, the history of how Chinese ancient books were handed down through generations, the collection, collation, categorization and preservation of Chinese ancient books overseas, new developments in the field of theoretical authentication for Chinese ancient books, the research and publication of bibliographies for Chinese ancient books and the catalogue compilation and research of Chinese ancient books. Shen Jin, specially appointed expert of Sun Yat-sen University Libraries and former director of the Chinese Collection of the Harvard-Yenching Library, summed up the meeting on the closing ceremony.

The meeting, which is a magnificent academic gathering jointly participated by private collectors of ancient books and specialists from libraries and publishing industries at home and abroad, is the first one of its kind ever held in China. It provides a good platform for discussing academic issues among organizations and individuals engaged in the collection and research of Chinese ancient books at home and abroad, facilitates the development of academic research in collation and categorization, descriptive bibliography, catalogue, bibliology and literature of Chinese ancient books, the resource construction and sharing of Chinese ancient books as well as international collaborations and communications in Descriptive Bibliography research of Chinese ancient books.