Jiayitang Library

Jiayetang library was built in 1920 by Liu Chenggan, the grandson of Liu Yong. It was named after the Jiulong gold plaque "qinruoye" given by Puyi, emperor of Qing Dynasty.

One of the three major private libraries in China, xiaolianzhuang is across the river from xiaolianzhuang. It is connected by a small bridge. The environment is very good.

This is a two-story building with an ambulatory style. It consists of seven rooms with two entrances and left and right wing rooms. There are 52 libraries with a collection of about 110000 books.

JIAYE library is the most historic place in Nanxun ancient town. It is well preserved and cannot be missed.

Jiayitang Library

Jiayetang library, adjacent to xiaolianzhuang across the stream, was built in 1920 by Liu Chenggan, the grandson of Liu Yong. It got its name from the Jiulong gold plaque "qinruoye" given by Puyi, emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Jiayetang library is one of the famous private libraries in modern China. It is a national key protected cultural relic. After liberation, the original owner donated the book to Zhejiang Library, which is now a public library and a tourist attraction.

Historical evolution

JIAYE hall, located in the southwest suburb of Nanxun Town, Huzhou City, is one of the famous private libraries in modern China. Its founder is Liu Chenggan, who is known as the "great rich in Jiangsu and Zhejiang".

Liu Chenggan (1881-1963), a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, was born in Nanxun. His grandfather Liu Yong (1825-1889) became rich in silk. However, he despised wealth and culture, and encouraged his descendants to study and become officials. His father Liu Jinzao (1862-1934) was a scholar of literature and history. He became a scholar in the 20th year of Guangxu (1894). He wrote a series of works, such as general textual research on the continued imperial documents, Nanxun chronicles, jianpaoan poems and essays, etc.

Appreciation of ancient books

Liu Chenggan, born as a scholar, has long been associated with famous archaeologists such as Wang Guowei, Luo Zhenyu, ye Dehui and Miao Quansun. He is fond of appreciating ancient books and inherits his father's historiography and his stepfather Liu Anlan (Liu Jinzao's elder brother).

In 1920, he built the library on the west side of xiaolianzhuang, Nanxun's former residence. It took four years and was completed in 1924, covering an area of more than 20 mu. In his book jiayetang library, he said: "Yu Shaoxi, XianFen, Xi xiangtingjie, remembering his hometown, stealing Sishi It's by the Zhegu river. The library is built for the collection of books. There are 120000 Minjin and 20 mu of land. The winter of Gengshen was broken at the age of Jiazi.

Cultural Revolution

Over the past 60 years, jiayetang library has experienced two catastrophes: the Japanese invasion of China and the ten-year "Cultural Revolution".

Japanese invaders invade China

Nanxun was occupied, and the Japanese set fire to the houses. The whole town was in ruins, but the library of jiayetang was safe. There are three reasons for this: it is said that Liu Chenggan engraved ancient books and was willing to give them to others. Sometimes, Japanese sinologist Matsuzaki Yoshio wrote many letters to the library to ask for books before the Anti Japanese war. Liu Chenggan answered every request and met his requirements. Matsuzaki's wife and uncle were "major general Mu". Before his invasion of China, Matsuzaki repeatedly urged that if he went to Nanxun, Zhejiang Province, he must protect the jiayetang library. Sure enough, major general Mu became the commander of the Japanese army in Nanxun when he invaded China. He ordered the protection of the library. This is the first saying.

Liu Chenggan was well aware that the Japanese loved Chinese ancient books but despised the fragmentary ones. Therefore, when the Japanese invaders invaded China, they had already taken out one or two volumes of each book and made it incomplete. Therefore, the Japanese army despised the fragmentary ones instead of plundering them. This is the second theory. Third, before the Japanese invaders arrived in Nanxun, Liu Chenggan had transported most of the precious books to the Shanghai concession houses for preservation. These are three kinds of views, which seem to be reasonable. Maybe they have both, to be tested.

Quotations from the Cultural Revolution

The second disaster was the decade of the cultural revolution. The red guards once regarded the library as the old home of "seal, capital and repair", which was the main goal of breaking the "four old". But at this time, thanks to a librarian Tang fuzhang (who has passed away), he painted quotations on all the marble screens and bookcases with red paint. As soon as these red guards entered the hall of the library, their eyes were covered with red quotations. They were stunned, and no one dared to break the quotation board. The library of JIAYE hall was completely intact after ten years of turmoil.

At that time, Jiaxing county was not long after liberation. One day in late June, the Jiaxing county Party Committee received a telegram from Comrade Zhou Enlai from the provincial and prefectural Party committees, ordering them to immediately send troops to defend JIAYE hall and prevent damage. The provincial and prefectural Party committees entrusted this important task to the Jiaxing county Party committee, asking the Jiaxing county Party committee to dispatch armed forces to protect the Nanxun library. At that time, the Jiaxing county Party committee had been established, and the Jiaxing independent battalion had just been reorganized by the original independent regiment on June 1.

Yang Ming served as secretary of the county Party committee, Shen Rugong served as Deputy Secretary of the county Party committee and political commissar of Jiaxing independent camp.

After the county Party Committee received the telegram, Comrade Yang Ming handed the telegram to Shen Rucong, asking him to carry out the telegram task handed over by Premier Zhou. Shen Rucong said that he would resolutely carry it out. He immediately decided to appoint the first company of Jiaxing independent battalion, led by instructor Hu Guojun and company commander Shen Yingjie, to Nanxun overnight. To the east of the library are Liu's Chinese and western houses, ancestral temples and garden lotus house, where troops are stationed. The next day, Shen Rucong and Yang Ming went to Nanxun to inspect the protection of the library of the first company, and went to JIAYE hall to learn about the garrison security of the army.

Intact protection

A company of cadres and soldiers in Nanxun well carried out the task of protecting the library. But in order to protect the cultural treasures of the motherland, they also paid the price of blood. At that time, the bandits near Nanxun were unwilling to fail. After the troops were stationed, they still tried to wait for the opportunity to destroy.

On the afternoon of the third day when the first company entered xiaolianzhuang, Shen Xiangrong (a member of the Communist Party of China, a Chongming native) was attacked by two bandits at the entrance of the library to the street. The two bandits rushed to seize the gun from Comrade Shen Xiangrong. Shen Wenshu resisted bravely and refused the two bandits. When they saw that they could not seize the gun, they fired several shots at Shen Wenshu, and Comrade Shen Xiangrong died on the spot. After hearing the news, the company immediately sent out to hunt down the two bandits. With the help of local farmers' Association cadres (including a female comrade) and the masses, the two bandits were captured on the same day and locked up in a riverside house. At night, a bandit jumped out of the window and drowned in the river.

The other bandit was escorted to Jiaxing independent camp, interrogated by the commander of the camp, Comrade Liu Xianzheng, and executed with the approval of the higher authorities. During the interrogation, it was learned that the two bandits were the remnant bandits of Ma Wenlong's bandit Department lurking in the Kuomintang, and the JIAYE hall was well protected.

present situation

Nanxun town was peacefully liberated on May 2, 1949. When the army went south, Comrade Zhou Enlai was very concerned about the two major libraries in Zhejiang (JIAYE hall in Nanxun and Tianyi Pavilion in Ningbo). He asked commander Chen Yi to send troops to protect them from losses.

Therefore, the PLA specially sent a company of soldiers to the library to protect these precious books. In November 1951, Liu Chenggan wrote a letter to Zhejiang Library, "I am willing to donate the book to your library for permanent preservation.".

At that time, Zhejiang Library and Jiaxing regional library sent cadres to receive them. When they received it, they had a collection of about 110000 books, more than 3000 magazines and more than 30000 red pear wood books. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the reform and opening up brought new life to the library.

In 1984, the Zhejiang Provincial People's government allocated 220000 yuan for repair. The house of jiayetang library has been renovated. The garden has been renovated in an orderly way, with towering trees, green lotus and willows, new pavilions, winding paths and secluded sceneries. It seems that people are outside the world, forgetting honor and disgrace, and feeling relaxed and happy. Some famous scholars at home and abroad are attracted to visit, and this library is famous in the world.

look south

Jiayetang library is a Chinese style building, facing south from north. The six characters "jiayetang library" on the lintel of the gate are written by Liu Tingchen and his pen. Liu Chenggan was named "JIAYE" when he built the library because he donated a lot of money to help build Guangxu mausoleum in the late Qing Dynasty, and Xuantong gave him the plaque of "Qin Ruo JIAYE". He was proud of it, so he named it "JIAYE". There are 52 rooms in the whole building. Upstairs is the "Xigu building", where ancient classics are stored. Outside is a "Liguang Pavilion" with 1954 volumes of Siku Quanshu. Inside, the main room, named "qiushuzhai", was originally used to store the ancient books of the Ministry of history. Jiayetang library is a two-story building with a cloister style brick and wood structure and a combination of Chinese and Western styles. It is ten Zhang and six feet wide from east to west and fifteen Zhang and nine feet deep from north to south. It is divided into two parts: front and back. Each part is seven rooms wide, and the left and right wing rooms are six, totally 52 rooms. The 52 well built houses are all storehouses for books. The floor of each library is firm, the bookshelves are neat, and there are double-layer windows of iron sheet and glass on both sides. The wall bases around the building are about five or six feet high, all of which are made of granite. The plane is in the shape of "mouth". In order to facilitate the drying of books, there is a large patio in the middle of the two houses, which covers an area of more than 300 square meters. It is paved with square bricks without weeds.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard, we can see that all the storerooms facing the courtyard are equipped with floor long windows, which are convenient for ventilation and lighting. All the rooms are decorated with mahogany furniture such as marble screens, desks, tea tables and fragrant Qi beds, which is the style of halls in Qing Dynasty. The main hall on the ground floor is "JIAYE hall", with a gold plaque of "qinruojiya" given by Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty. The upstairs is "Xigu building". The panes on the downstairs are decorated with the seal characters of "JIAYE Hall Library". The iron bars outside the corridor are decorated with "Xigu", which is ingenious and unique.

Chinese PinYin : Jia Ye Tang Cang Shu Lou