Abstract:

After conquering the south of the Yangtze River, Zeng Guofan, who was interested in reviving culture and education, appointed Mo Youzhi to search for the Siku lost books. The cultural needs after the war, Zeng Guofan’s affirmation of Mo Youzhi’s sinology literacy, and Mo Youzhi’s livelihood pressure, the main reasons why to start this book-searching activities include the cultural needs after the war, Zeng Guofan’s affirmation of Mo Youzhi’s sinology literacy, and Mo Youzhi’s livelihood pressure. As the appointer of the book-searching activity, Zeng Guofan established the book-searching standards based entirely on his personal preference for rare books. Precisely because of Zeng’s enthusiasm for the first printed version, Mo focused on searching for these versions of books. This book-searching activity is both a public and private issue. To be specific, for publicly, Mo Youzhi has provided rare books for the Jinling Bookstore for many times, which has greatly contributed to the prosperity of Zeng Guofan’s cultural and educational career. For personally, both Mo Youzhi and Zeng Guofan have greatly enriched their personal collections of rare books by searching for the Siku lost books. This book-searching journey exactly reflected Zeng Guofan’s idea of personal collection of rare books as a bibliophile.