Iris Miao

“Cathay Bookshop, China’s first state-owned ancient and second-hand bookstore, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this month. The shop, on East Liulichang Traditional Culture Street, is also China’s largest bookstore specializing in thread bound books.”

“The book trade in China can be traced back some 2,000 years, to the late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD) in Chang’an (now Xi’an). According to historic records from the fourth century, on the 1st and the 15th day of every lunar month, students would gather in an open area called Huaishi. They took belongings such as Confucian classics, commentaries, biographies, or musical instruments to exchange with others. “

“The first fixed book market appeared in Beijing during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), near what is now East Chang’an Avenue. Several book markets came into being with the development of the publishing industry during the Ming and Qing dynasties.”

“During the Republic of China (1912-1949), the number of bookshops at Liulichang reached over 100. Almost all the big names in literature, history, geography, philosophy of the past century has his or her connections with these bookshops. Lu Xun, the great writer of the 1930s, recorded in his diary that he had visited the street over 480 times.”

“On Nov 4, 1952, the state-owned Cathay Bookshop was established with just 13 staff. In 1958, the capital’s 111 privately owned ancient and second-hand bookshops were merged into the Cathay Bookshop. At that time, when the Chinese publishing industry was still small, a bookstore was more than a bookstore to students and scholars. “Most of my learning comes from the Cathay Bookshop,” says Qi Gong, professor and well-known scholar of Beijing Normal University. He recalls those specialists who always knew which was a good edition, which was common, which was complete, which was an early print, and which was once banned ...”

The whole article by Iris Miao is published in Bejing Today.

More about the Chinese rare book trade and the ABAPRC on ILAB.org