by Lv Huijun, Shanghai International Studies University
Founded in 1847, the Xujiahui (Zikawei) Library of Shanghai has been part of Shanghai Library since 1957. It is home to 320,000 volumes of foreign literature that were published between 1477 and 1950. Its library, which has been published in almost 20 languages—including Latin, English, and Japanese—covers a wide range of topics, including philosophy, religion, politics, economics, language, literature, art, history, and geography. It is an epitome of the eastward spread of Western learning, the westward spread of Eastern learning and the vicissitudes of Shanghai’s history, and a real testimony of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
In 2001 and 2020, the Shanghai Library compiled and published the “General Catalogue of Old Japanese Literature in the Collection of Shanghai Library” and the “Mutual Learning of Civilizations: An Atlas of Rare Literature in Xujiahui Library” respectively. The former contains 41,766 items of Japanese literature, while the latter contains more than 200 items of rare literature in Western languages from the 15th to the early 20th centuries.
The collection of old Japanese literature before 1949 is one of the specialties of the Xujiahui Library. Among its collection, there are more than 80,000 volumes of old Japanese literature, 90% of which are books, 10% of which are recent Japanese periodicals, in addition to Japanese newspapers, pamphlets, and unofficial or non-public publications. Literary, cultural, and historical documents account for more than half of the total bibliographic documents.
These records of China (Shanghai) show the literary and cultural ties between contemporary China and Japan, serving as a testament to the process of the civilization exchanges and mutual understanding. These are important and uncommon records of the history of Japanese immigration to Shanghai, the literary ties between contemporary China and Japan, and the cultural contacts between the two nations.
The Xujiahui Library has a wide collection of Japanese literary works, many of which are literary readings maintained by Japanese institutions in Shanghai, among its many other genres of Japanese literature. Together with the Japanese-language newspapers issued in Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century (such as the “Shanghai Nichi Nichi Shimbun”, the “Tairiku Shinpō”, and the “Kaizō Nippō”), and the Japanese-language literary magazine “Shanghai Literature”, we can analyze the works and thoughts of Chinese and Japanese writers, reexamine the communication space constructed between both countries’ literary figures at that time, and recreate the scene of exchanges between each other. By sorting out the inextricable network of relations between Chinese and Japanese literary groups and their newspapers and media, we will be able to uncover the original appearance of the true Sino-Japanese literary ties in the contemporary age.
We can comprehensively interpret modern Japanese knowledge about China, including Shanghai, as well as the relationship between modern Japan and Shanghai and even China, by using the history of Sino-Japanese exchanges and literature as the main axes and Shanghai as the main research area. The study of literature as an object has significant practical implications for how we currently think about cultural exchanges and Sino-Japanese relations.
In light of the volatile relations between the two nations today, examining the complex process of Sino-Japanese relations in modern times and searching for some regular connotations of the development of Sino-Japanese relations in modern times can offer helpful perspective and motivation for us to comprehend the literary and cultural ties between the two countries, foster mutual understanding at an intrinsic level, advance the positive evolution of their relations, improve exchanges and mutual understanding of world civilizations, and boost our sense of national and cultural self-worth.
Published on December 7, 2023