China Popular Itineraries |
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This is a collection of works in series issued in the same format and under a general title. In ancient China, book series, as a category, originated in the Qing and Han dynasties, fell into a pattern till the Song Dynasty, and achieved great prosperity in the Ming and Qing dynasties when Complete Li-brary in the Four Branches of Literature, the unprecedented monumental, was accomplished.
According to the category of books collected, classic series in ancient Chi-na might be classified into two sorts: (1) Series of books which include only works of a certain field, for example, Notes and Commentaries on Thirteen Classics of Confucianism, a collection of Confucian Classics; (2) Series of books which include works of various fields, for example, All Fields of Learning (called Xuehai Leibian in Chinese). Apart from the two sorts above, classic series might also be classified according to another two criteria-(1) According to the way of collecting, they can be classified as Essentials, a collection of important books or books in common use; and as Editions, a col- lection of different, especially valuable editions of books; and as Photocopies, a collection of photocopies of books published in the Song and Yuan dynasties and other rare books; (2) According to the content of the collection, they can be classified as books of a given dynasty, or in an area, or by a writer, or on certain subject. |
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