(4) Nanjing Library Department of Historical Documents (Dept. of Ancient Books)　南京図書館歴史文献部（古籍部） Address Huju Road, Nanjing　南京市虎踞路 Relevant URL http://www.jslib.org.cn/（Nanjing Library） Photo ■Brief overview and admissions 　The origin of Nanjing Library dates back to the Jiangnan Library, founded in 1907. During the Republican era, it was renamed the Jiangsu Provincial Chinese Library江蘇省立国学図書館, and since 1954, it has been the Nanjing Library. Starting in 2001, all the ancient books can be accessed at the Department of Historical Documents歴史文献部. It must be noted that the main library building is located in another place, ChengxianSt。成賢街, and that ancient books are not available for reading there. The library is open from Monday through Friday, from 8:00-17:00 and there is no lunch break. A letter of introduction from a Chinese domestic institution is required. First deposit your bags in the reading room and receive a reader's card in exchange for your passport. To search the holdings, there are card catalogs categorized by title and author, and the classifications are digitalized. To request a book, fill out the requisition form in duplicate. Two titles can be requested at the same time. No more than a third of a volume can be photocopied. ■ Reference 　"Access to Modern and Contemporary Chinese Documents" (Yukio Takada, Rekishi Hyoron 歴史評論Historical Sciences Review, vol. 638, 2003) provides information about the library as of 2001 (in Japanese) (September 2002) (5) Nanjing University Library Ancient Books Reading Room南京大学図書館古籍閲覧室 Address Hankou Rd.,Nanking 南京市漢口路号南大構内西楼 Relevant URL http://lib.nju.edu.cn/ (Nanjing University Library) Photo ■Brief overview and admissions  　Nanjing University is directly under the State Education Commission. The University dates back to 1902, when Sanjiang Normal School三江師範学堂 was founded by Zhang Zhidong張之洞. Following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it was given its present name, Nanjing Univeristy. In marking the centenary of the foundation, many of the university buildings were renovated. The library, which is located within the university complex, was established as the Sanjiang Normal School Deushu徳書楼 Building. The new library building was constructed in 1979. The ancient books reading room is open every day except Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday afternoon, from 8:00-12:00 and 14:00-17:30. Getting permission to use the reading room requires a letter of introduction from a Chinese domestic organization. In entering the library for the first time, you will need to acquire a reader's card in exchange for a valid ID. To search for a book, the slightly old First Draft Catalogue of Nanjing University Library Ancient Chinese Books Classification (Nanjing University, 1958) is the only tool available. You may read up to two titles at a time, and the fee is RMB1 yuan per volume. Copying is permitted up to a third of a volume and the fees are stipulated at 1 yuan for documents of the Republican era, RMB 3 yuan for Xianfeng咸豊, 4 for Daoguang道光, 5 for　Ｊiaching嘉慶, 10 for Chongzhen　崇禎 to Qianlong乾隆. The fee for pre-Chongzhen documents is negotiable. (September 2002) (6) Jiangsu Provincial Archive 江蘇省档案館館 Address Qingdao Rd., Nangjing 南京市青島路 Relevant URL http://www.dajs.gov.cn/(Jiangsu Province Information Network/Jiangusu Archive) Photo ■ History and brief overview 　Jiangsu Province Archive　江蘇省档案館 is in a distinguished white-walled building located in the neighborhood of Nanjing University. Thanks to improved disclosure of information, the library allows the public to view documents from the time of the Republican era through the period between the liberation and the Cultural Revolution. While the Second Historical Archive of China 中国第二歴史档案館, also located in Nanjing preserves documents of the Kuomintang-affiliated central government, this archive houses local documents from the provincial level. Until a few years ago, the archive was off limits to foreigners. Today, however, even a guidebook titled Guide to Jiangsu Provincial Archive江蘇省档案館指南　 (Beijing, Dan'an Chubanshe, 1994) has been published. ■Admissions and searching the collection To obtain permission to read books, a letter of introduction from a Chinese domestic institution is required. Enter the archive, receiving a reader's card in exchange for your passport. The reading room is open from Monday through Friday, from 8:30-11:30 and 14:00-17:00. There is a card catalog for searching the collection, but it does not carry much information. Trying to find a book without understanding the system is a reckless act, like diving into water with your hands tied behind your back. It may be effective for a researcher who is studying a single incident, and who wants to see if there are any documents on the very day of the incident, and if there are, to find out what is in the document. In any case, publishing this enormous volume of original documents could lead to a major rewriting of the history of the Republic of China and of the Communist Party of China. I cannot but fear that a sweating cow may catch pneumonia from shedding too much sweat. ■Reference 　The aforementioned monograph by Yukio Takada provides information about this archive as of 2001. 　　　　　　　　(September 2002) (7) Zhejiang University Libraries Thread-bound Rare Books Reading Room　浙江大学図書館線装善本閲覧室 Address Xixi, Hangzhou Ciy　杭州市西渓 URL http://libweb.zju.edu.cn/（Zhejiang University Libraries） Photo ■Brief overview and how to use the library The origin of Zhejiang University dates back to the Qiushi Academy求是学院, founded in 1897. The present name was adopted in 1928. It was once a key college of science and technologies, and was reorganized recently into a full-scale university through a merger with Hangzhou University, which was under the direct control of the Zhejiang Provincial government. The libraries include a main library and branch libraries, and the ancient books division belongs to the humanities and science branch library, located in Xixi西渓 district, which basically took over the former Hangzhou University Library as is. Its holdings contain 120,000 volumes of thread-bound books including 19,000 volumes of rare books in 1,350 categories. To search the collection, you can use the Hangzhou University Library Catalogue of Threaded-bound Books (Zhonghua Shuyu, December, 1964) and the Hangzhou University Library Catalogue of Rare Books (Zhonghua Shuyu, July, 1965), both photocopied catalogs. At present, books are decimally classified in the card catalog, making it quite difficult to search for ancient Chinese books. As such, researchers tend to rely on the old catalogs for searches. The library hours are from 8:00-11:30 and 13:30-17:00 from Monday to Thursday, and 8:00-11:30 on Fridays. (February 2003) (8) Zhejiang Library Ancient Books Division 　浙江図書館古籍部 Address Gushan Rd., Hangzhou杭州市西湖区孤山路 Relevant URL http://www.zjlib.net.cn/default.asp （Zhejiang Library） Photo ■Brief overview and admissions  The ancient books division of the Zhejiang Library is located separately from the rest of the facility, Gushan (Solitary Hill), a natural island on Xi Lake西湖. On the island, are the Xiling Seals Engraving Society西?印社, a famous society for the study of seal engraving and calligraphy, Sun Yatsen Park and Zhejiang Museum. Entering the library building, there is a large staircase leading to the stacks, creating an Art Deco atmosphere. The bibliographical cards at the entrance are apparently newly classified and are not easy to use. You can use the Zhejiang Library Catalogue of Rare Books 浙江図書館善本書目(1937, a printed volume), a very old four-volume catalog using quadruple classification. Another catalog, the Zhejiang Library Catalogue of Special Collections　浙江図書館in two volumes (publication year unknown) is a little better. The library is open from Monday through Friday, from 9:00-16:30. There is no lunch break. A photocopying service is available for RMB1.5 yuan per sheet for documents of the Republican era. (To copy an entire document, it costs RMB 2.5 yuan per sheet). The new building of Zhejiang Library seems to house an ancient rare books reading room, which I have not yet visited to confirm. 。 ■ Reference "Report of the visits to Zhejiang Archive/Library and Hubei Archive" By Shin Kawashima ("[Chugoku Kenkyu Geppo]中国研究月報", Vol.51 No.2 ［No.588］, 1997) carries a detailed description of the library as of 1997 (in Japanese) 　(February 2003) (9) Zhejiang Archive 浙江档案館 Address Shuguang Rd., Hanzhou杭州市曙光路４５号 Relevant URL http://www.zjda.gov.cn/(Zhejiang Archives Information Net/Zhejiang Archive) Photo ■ Brief overview and admissions Like other institutions, the Zhejiang Archive浙江档案館, established in 1965, had to discontinue its operations in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. It was only in the 1980s that the archive relaunched operations on a full-fledged scale. The present building was completed in 1982. The documents held by the archive, with the exception of the marine-customs documents of Ningbo寧波, Wenzhou温州 and Hangzhou杭州 from 1958 onwards toward the end of the Qing Dynasty and a small number of documents related to Dongshantang同善堂, a charity organization, are predominantly from the periods of the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. The purpose of the institution is more to provide information to the current provincial government than to be an archive of historical documents designed for researchers. The archive's building and facilities are excellent, probably because its renovation was promoted and carried out by the provincial government. However, some work still needs to be done before the archive becomes fully functional. Taking a glance at the massive number of cards, I felt totally at a loss, not knowing where to begin. The archive apparently has not yet received many visitors from Japan. ■ Reference 　For details, see the Guide to the Zhejiang Archive浙江档案館指南(Hangzhou, Daxue Chubanshe, 1997). The aforementioned monograph by Shin Kawashima also includes a detailed description of the archive as of 1997. (February 2003) (10) Shaoxing Library　紹興図書館 Address Yan'an Rd., Shaoxhing　紹興市延安路 Relevant URL http://library.sx.zj.cn/ Photo ■ Brief overview and admissions 　Shaoxing Library is the library of Shaoxing City. In visiting the library, I was quite impressed by how nice the building looked for a city library. Apparently, on the occasion of the year 2000, the collections of the Lu Xun Library　魯迅図書館, which belonged to Lu Xun Memorial Museum魯迅紀念館, were transferred to Shaoxing Library. As its result, the library holds 160,000 ancient volumes including 700 or more rare books. There are cards classified into Shaoxing-related books and others. Inside the library, hand-written catalogs using hand-written catalog according to the Four Categories (Sibu) 四部分類 edited by Lu Xun Library are available. I found the female staff members to be extremely nice and intelligent. This may be in part a reflection of the fact that few visitors come to local libraries such as this one, even when they are renovated and fine looking, and the library staff, having little work to do, heartily welcomes foreign visitors. I did not see many ancient books in Shaoxing Library, but the other findings turned out to be valuable. The ancient book division is open every day except Sundays and Mondays, from 9:00-11:30 and 13:30-17:00. (February 2003) (11) Shaoxing Prefectural Archive　紹興図書館 Address Yan'an Rd., Shaoxhing紹興市越城区延安路 URL http://www.sxda.gov.cn/sxxdaj/ (Shaoxing prefectural documentation information network/Shaoxing prefectural documentation division) Photo ■ Brief overview and admissions Documents related to Shaoxing City are gathered together in this archive, located in the premises of the Shaoxing prefectural government. It doesn't look like the kind of place a foreign visitor would feel comfortable about entering, but contrary to my anticipation, I was able to enter the library quite easily after presenting a letter of introduction from Zhejiang University. Although it is an "archive," there is no reading room and you check the catalog next to the office where the employees are working. Still, the archive has good catalogs such as "Unclassified Documents of the Republic of China Classified Cards民国開放档案分類卡" and "Unclassified Documentation of the Current Organization's Classified Cards.民国档案開放目録" The four-volume "Catalogue of Unclassified Documents of the Republic of China原告期間開放档案分類卡" is full of detailed historical documents from Shaoxing from the 1910s through the 1940s. To read historical documents seriously in this place, I would recommend doing some initial stretches and exercises: jumping into this great ocean in haste could well lead to a heart attack. (February 2003)