Abstract:

In 1937, Nanxun city had been occupied by Japanese army. The JiaYeTang collection wasunder the supervision of the Japanese army in the name of preservation, then all Japanese forces activelycontacted Liu Chenggan, and tried to acquire the rare books under the coercion of the army. Liu Chenggantried his best to mediate with all forces to ensure the safety of the collection, and took advantage of theopportunity to secretly transfer the collections to the Shanghai Concession, where it was sold to the WenXian Bao Cun Tong Zhi Hui on behalf of the government. By analyzing the letters and diaries of relevantfigures in the Shanghai Library and the National Library of China, this paper examines the historicaldetails of Liu Chenggan’s efforts to protect his collections from looting and destruction during 1938-1940. One side, it aims to reveal the ways and means by which the Japanese parties “collected books” inChina, and on the other hand, to present the achievements and contributions of the private collectors to theprotection of traditional culture in China during the war.