The “Preface to the Seven Catalogs” and Ruan Xiaoxu’s World of Knowledge and Thought

Abstract

During the Southern Dynasties, with paper extensively adopted, accessing knowledge became significantly more convenient compared to the era of bamboo and wooden slips. Amid this context, private book collections blossomed. It was not uncommon for families to possess extensive literature and histories, containing thousands of volumes. This led to the trend of “downward shift of knowledge.” Consequently, terms encompassing “vast breadth” like “profound and comprehensive,” became frequent descriptors of scholars of the era. Ruan Xiaoxu was renowned for his extraordinary reading habits, earning him the reputation of “extensively reading all categories of literature.” Details of Ruan Xiaoxu’s reading habits and knowledge foundation are documented in the “Preface to the Seven Catalogs,” preserved within the “Extensive Collection of Enlightened Wisdom.” Analysis of the “Preface to the Seven Catalogs” reveals that the bibliographic compendium, Seven Catalogs, due to its characterization as “the remnants and hidden records of the world are nearly exhausted within this catalog,” partially represents the scale of book collections throughout the Southern Dynasties up to the second year of the Datong era of Emperor Wu of Liang’s reign (536). From the perspective of private reading, the Seven Catalogs represents a synopsis of Ruan Xiaoxu’s personal “reading history,” encapsulating his individual “knowledge framework.” However, Ruan Xiaoxu exhibited extensive reading of all categories of literature, his “reading scope” encompassing virtually all academic fields of his era. Thus, investigating the journey of Ruan Xiaoxu’s private reading and the compositional structure of the Seven Catalogs gains even greater significance. Ruan Xiaoxu’s individual history of reading and intellectual advancements mirrored the evolution of the academic culture and spiritual essence during the Southern Dynasties.

Keywords

Ruan Xiaoxu / the Preface to the Seven Catalogs / the changes of Buddhism and Daoism / Southern Dynasties Culture

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Higher Education Press