The History of Xue Hai Bookstore

Xue Hai Bookstore is the first public library in China and Hongkong, which was founded by Lai Jixi Taishi on 1923. 19 1 1 year, the Xinhai revolution in China was overthrown, and a large number of scholars who used to work in the imperial court came to Hong Kong, China, and were admitted to the University of Hong Kong, China. Master Lai Jixi is one of them. He came to China and Hongkong to study for a bachelor's degree in Hanlin in the late Qing Dynasty. He thinks that the education level of Hong Kong people in China is low, and he wants to introduce the Four Books and Five Classics to Hong Kong society in China. So he raised money from the old Manchu people and local gentry businessmen, bought a house at 1923, and founded Xue Hai Bookstore, aiming at spreading the quintessence of Chinese culture and collecting books to give lectures. In addition to supporting the establishment of the library, Manchu old people also provided a large number of books for the library. They took a large number of ancient books collected at home to Xue Hai Bookstore for storage, and others followed suit. Later, some people bought books and sent them to Xue Hai Bookstore. Gradually, there are more and more books in Xue Hai Bookstore, and the original place can barely accommodate these 20,000 to 30,000 books. According to statistics, there are 1 many books in the library.

900 species and ***34 species.

More than 600 volumes, most of which are out-of-print thread-bound books and manuscripts of ancient Chinese studies. Classics, history, subsets. Among them, Shu Dong's Reading Secretary written by Chen Li in Qing Dynasty, Confucius' Reform Examination written by Kang Youwei and Pseudo-Classics Examination are even more cultural treasures. Other ancient books include Notes on Thirteen Classics (Guangdong Jupo Jingshe Edition) and Ruan Yuan's Guangdong Tongzhi. In addition, books and catalogues published by Xue Hai Bookstore over the years are also included, such as modern translations of ancient literature and lectures by Xue Hai Bookstore. 194 1, China and Hong Kong fell and the situation was turbulent. The owner of Xue Hai Bookstore gave the precious books in the library to Fengpingshan Library in HKU. Although Xue Hai Bookstore resumed its business after the war, it only resumed its function of giving lectures, and books are still kept in Fengpingshan Library. 1963, the Xue Hai Bookstore located on Zhongyang Road needed to be demolished, so the bookstore borrowed all the books from the library of the city hall. By 200 1, after the central library is completed, the books will be transferred to the special collection room of the reference library on the ninth floor of the central library for readers' reference.

Reference: chinesetoday/news/show/id/4856