Yang Shoujing (1839- 19 15) was born in Yidu, Hubei. The first year of juren tongzhi (1862). From the 6th to 10th year of Guangxu (1880- 1884), the military attache of the embassy in Japan was sent. 19 14 was hired by Yuan Shikai as a consultant to participate in the political affairs of the Senate.
Yang Shoujing loved reading since he was a child, but he failed to become an official. Yang Shoujing was chosen at the age of twenty-four, and was forty-eight in the twelfth year of Guangxu. He tried to be a scholar seven times, but he finally failed because of bad luck. Nevertheless, every time he went to Beijing to take the exam, he lost no time to visit Shi Jing Bookstore and collect ancient books and inscriptions extensively, which laid the foundation for his catalogue edition and epigraphy.
In March of the sixth year of Guangxu, Yang Shoujing failed the sixth exam. In desperation, he was invited by the Japanese minister He, and was sent to Japan as the embassy attache next summer. At that time, at the time of reform, Japan advocated new learning and abandoned old learning. China's classical books were even regarded as a symbol of backwardness and were thrown away at will. So Yang Shoujing can buy many rare books and cheats that have been lost in China. Yang Shoujing also met a Japanese doctor named Mori Rizhi, who is also a bibliophile. Yang Shoujing saw some rare books and films he copied in Sen's place, and he couldn't put it down. Sen's opinion is that Yang Shoujing loved them so much and gave them generously, while Yang Shoujing got inspiration from them and compiled a sample of the secret books of Song and Yuan Dynasties he visited in Japan, which was later engraved and published, and was called "Six Treasures", which created an epoch-making book shadow precedent for the ancient book edition. Sen Lizhi also gave Yang Shoujing a copy of Visiting Ancient Records. From then on, it was more convenient for Yang Shoujing to take orders to visit. In just one year, he bought more than 30,000 ancient books.
A year later, he succeeded He as the ambassador to Japan. Li Shuchang (1837- 1897), a native of Zunyi, Guizhou, was appointed as the ambassador to Japan for the second time by Guangxu. Li Shuchang is also an excellent ancient scholar. He was very moved when he heard that Yang Shoujing had visited many ancient books that had been lost in China. He commissioned Yang Shoujing to engrave the ancient Yi series on the basis of searching ancient books, so Yang Shoujing was more keen on visiting ancient times. Yang Shoujing was good at painting and calligraphy. He went to Japan and took more than 13,000 copies of inscriptions in the Han, Wei, Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties. Using these inscriptions, Yang Shoujing not only spread China's calligraphy art to Japan, but also was known as "the father of modern Japanese calligraphy and Taoism", and exchanged these inscriptions for many rare books that money could not buy. From the eighth year to the tenth year of Guangxu, Yang Shoujing assisted Li Shuchang in engraving the "Guyi Series", with 26 kinds of * * * 200 volumes, most of which were lost in China at that time.
In the 10th year of Guangxu, Yang Shoujing returned to China with all the books he had visited in Japan, and in the 14th year of Guangxu, he built a garden in Huangzhou, Hubei Province, named "Neighboring the Soviet Union", because it was adjacent to Su Dongpo's former residence. In the 29th year of Guangxu, Yang Shoujing built a seaview hall in Wuchang and moved the book to Wuchang. During the Revolution of 1911, Yang Shoujing took refuge in Shanghai, but his books were not shipped out. At that time, at the request of Japanese Consul Temple West in Hankou, Governor Li issued an enlightenment to protect Yang Shoujing's books: "If you take photos of civilized countries, you will be proud of your country if you don't pay attention to preservation. It is found that there are hundreds of thousands of ancient books in Yang Shen, and all compatriots should try their best to protect them. If anyone dares to sabotage or steal, he will be prosecuted immediately upon discovery. " Yang Shen is a learned man, and our compatriots should cherish him. * * * Do our duty of protection to preserve ancient books and pay attention to rural sages. "Yang Shoujing, who was seventy years old at that time, was deeply moved. In the first year of the Republic of China, Yang Shoujing transported the surviving books from Wuchang to Shanghai.
Yang Shoujing was not a scholar all his life, but he was quite famous in the academic circles. Yang's academic achievements are attributed to his study of the earth, and he is known as a historical geographer who initiated a new era of geography. Second, epigraphy, in Yang's book collection, epigraphy has always been an important part; Third, edition bibliography, Yang Shoujing has hundreds of thousands of books, including tens of thousands of national independent books. In the twenty-third year of Guangxu, Yang Shoujing published the Secretary's Record of Various Rare Books Seen in Japan, which had a great influence on bibliography. Yang Shoujing also has a volume of 32 quatrains, written in 19 13, under the pen names "Huitang" and "Wang Baoxin".
In the third year of the Republic of China, Yang Shoujing was hired as Yuan Shikai's consultant, and these books were moved to Beijing with Yang Shoujing. Now most of them are hidden in the Palace Museum in Taiwan.