Memorabilia 2003

January

On January 1, the inauguration ceremony of the National Library of China Wenjin Forum was held grandly at the Branch Library. The well-known scholar Tang Yijie, Pang Pu, Lou Yulie and

Ye Xiushan, our library’s Director Ren Jiyu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy

Director Yan Bingyan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang

Yafang, Deputy Director Chen Li and nearly 200 audiences attend the ceremony. The inauguration of the Wenjin Forum indicated that the lectures of our library had been systematic and formed a cultural brand.

On January 19, the First Ministerial Leader Historical Culture Lecture 2003 was held at the

Concert Hall of our library. Vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Peng Peiyun attended the lecture and over 200 ministerial leaders from the central government and state agencies attended the lecture. The lecture was titled How to Enjoy Symphony. The well-known conductor and standing conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra Li Xincao introduced the origin, classification, execution of the symphony on the basis of the several famous symphony songs, such as the symphony overture Ode To Red Flag, the opera The marriage of

Figaro overture, Brahms Hungarian Dances, the string music Beautiful Night, the piano concerto

Yellow River, etc.

On January 22, the Newspaper Sea Wanderer Track Talkfest and Guiwei New Year Greeting

Meeting, which was sponsored by the Newspaper Section of the Newspapers and Periodicals

Department, was held at the Newspaper Section of the Newspapers and Periodicals Department.

Dozens of senior comrades who had worked at the Newspapers and and Periodicals Department were invited to attend the talkfest. The talkfest had an important impact on the collection, organization, development and use of library-collected old newspaper.

On January 22, our library’s retired leader spring festival greeting meeting 2003 was held at

Qingyuanzhai. Director Ren Jiyu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang

Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy

Director Zhang Yafang, Deputy Director Chen Li and Zhang Xiaoxing attended the greeting meeting and over 400 retired leaders of our library attended the greeting meeting.

On January 23, our library’s working united front staff spring festival greeting meeting was held at

Qingyuanzhai. Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy

Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang

Yafang and Deputy Director Chen Li attended the greeting activity and greeted the presented over

150 working united front staff, including non-Communist Political figures, national minorities, high qualified intellectuals outside the Party, returned overseas Chinese, relatives of nationals living abroad, relatives of Taiwan compatriots living on the Mainland, etc.

On January 27, a visiting-China delegation led by Cui Taifu (transliteration) paid a visit at our library, and our library’s Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo had a friendly conversation with the guests.

On January 30, our library held a middle level managing leader engagement letter issue meeting in the Multifunctional Hall. Director Ren Jiyu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy

Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang and Deputy Director Chen Li attendedthe meeting; over 40 elected middle level managing leaders attended the meeting. Therefore, our library’s new term of middle level managing leader open promotion and employment through competition work was finished completely.

That same month, in order to meet the reading demand of the readers, during the Spring Festival, in addition to the normally open from 9.00 to 17.00 everyday, our library held several activities at the same time at the Main Library and the Branch Library. We specially arranged two wonderful lectures at the Branch Library and specially invited the well-known musician Mr. Bian Zushan and the well-known historian Mr. Liang Congjie to deliver the lectures.

February

On February 10, over 150 poverty-stricken university students of the winter vacation training class of Beijing Liuhexing Assistantship Center visited our library. Vice Minister of the Ministry of

Culture Zhou Heping and Chairman of Beijing Liuhexing Assistantship Center Bo Xicheng attended the meeting and made a speech. Our library’s Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang hosted the reception.

On February 14, the ceremony of memorializing Jose Marti’s 150th birthday and celebrating the first publication of the Chinese translated edition of the book Passion Likes Fire—Jose Marti’s

Biography was held in Wenjin Hall of our library. Nearly 100 persons, including Secretary of the

Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director of the Department of Latin

America and Caribbean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zhao Rongxian, Deputy

Director of the Bureau of Latin American Affairs of the the International Department of the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Kang Xuetong, Deputy Director of the

Bureau of External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture Sun Jiamu, President of the

World Affairs Press and Former Chinese Abassador to Cuba Wang Chengjia, Cuban Ambassador in China H.E.Mr.Alberto Rodriguez Arufe and his wife Ms. Alaida Rodriguez Arufe, Director of the Department of Asia of Cuban Foreign Ministry Alberto Velasco, Director of the Dpartment of

Multilateral Affairs of Cuban Foreign Ministry Juan Antonio Fernandez, the writer of this book

Louis Toledo Sander and related persons attended the ceremony of celebrating the first publication.

This book presentation do not only richen our library’s collection but also took the book as a cultural tie as to improve Sino-Cuban cultural exchange and cooperation.

On February 17, the Stack Management and Reading Services Department held a section leader open promotion and employment through competition speech meeting in the Yearbooks Reading

Room. Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director of the Human Resources Division Wang Qingyun and parts of the staff of the Stack Management and

Reading Services Department attended the lecture meeting. This time, there were totally 24 comrades attended employment through competition of 21 posts of chief and vice section leaders and finally 21 persons took the work posts of section level leaders.

From February 18 to 19, the Acquisitions and Cataloguing Department section leader employment through competition speech meeting was held in the Director Office of the

Acquisitions and Cataloguing Department. According to democratic assessment results, the evaluation committee put forward the post recommendation list and filed an application of approval of the Human Resources Division and managing library director. Finally, 21 comrades took the posts of chief and vice section leaders; the comrades with master degrees accounted for

13.63% of the headcount, the comrades with bachelor degrees accounted for 77.27% of the headcount and the comrades with junior college degrees accounted for 9.1%.

On February 18, New Zealand Ambassador in China Mr. Mai Kangnian (transliteration) visited our library. Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan received him and introduced the overview of the National Library of China to him.

On February 19, State Council Informatization Office conducted an investigation concerning the digital library construction and resource sharing issues. Deputy Director Liu He, Leader of the

Application Section Chen Xiaozhu, Leader of the Planning Section Qinhai, Deputy Leader of the

Integration Section Xin Renzhou, Leader of the Safety Section Zhao Zeliang from State Council

Informatization Office attended the investigation; Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture Zhou

Heping attended the investigation meeting, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director

Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhao Xiaoxing and the comrades of related departments received the investigation group.

On February 21, the opening ceremony of the Thomas Herzog Technology & Architecture

Exhibition, which was hosted by GOETHE Institute PEKING, School of Architecture in Tsinghua

University, Architectural Society of China and the Library Society of China, was held in Wenjin

Hall of our library. Standing Director of Library Society of China and Secretary of the Party

Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Director of Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies in Tsinghua University and the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese

Academy of Engineering Wu Liangyong, Secretary General of Architectural Society Zhou Chang,

Deputy Director of our library Zhang Xiaoxing, Dean of School of Architecture in Tsinghua

University Qin Youguo, Minister of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in China

Lord, Dean of the GOETHE Institute PEKING Wei Song, the professor of the Technical

University of Munich Thomas Herzog attended the opening ceremony. This exhibition comprehensively introduced the works of Thomas Herzog, who was an architect, designer and scholar.

On February 25, the speech and reply meeting for the open promotion and employment through competition of the posts of Branch Library section leaders was held in Academic Activity East

Hall of the Wenjin Building. The employment work used the way of integrating direct employment and employment through competition, 6 applicants signed up to attend the employment through competition of four posts, finally five applicants were employed (one of the posts were offered to two applicants).

On February 26, the speech and reply meeting for the open promotion and employment through competition of the posts of section leaders of the Newspapers and Periodicals Department was held in the No. one Audiovisual Room. The posts of this employment through competition involved 16 chief and vice section leaders of 7 operational sections, finally 16 comrades took the posts of chief and vice section leaders.

On February 27, the Protection of State Treasures with Kind-heartedness, the Maintenance of

Book Spirit with Magic Hands, sponsored by the Rare Books & Special Collections Department, was drawn to a close. During the exhibition period of over two months, nearly 1,000 visited the exhibition.

On February 28, the National Library of China Safety and Security Work Conclusion and Reward

Meeting 2002 were held in the No.4 Audiovisual Room of the AV Materials Section of our library.

Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo attended the meeting and made speeches. The leaders of department and divisions, representatives of safety advanced divisions, advanced sections, and individuals, totaling over 80 persons, attended the meeting. 14 sections and groups, including three departments (divisions) of the Planning and Finance Division, the Stack Management & Reading Services Department, and

Branch Library and the Bolographic Data Section of the Acquisitions and Cataloguing Department received the titles of safety and security advanced collectives, 40 comrades were granted the safety and security advanced individuals, 22 departments and sections were appraised the Safety

Excellent Collectives and 536 persons were granted awards.

March

On March 1, our library “Two Sessions” Reference Service Office formally initiated 24-hour reference services, provided high-quality information reference services of participating in and discussing government and political affairs to the “Two Sessions” representatives and promoted the functions of the National Library of China to the new representatives and new commissioners.

Up to March 18, the first session of the 10th National People’s Congress closed, our library provided 47special consultations to the representatives and commissioners of the “Two Sessions”, issued 25 reader’s cards (29 certificate handling telephone consultations) and received 8 “Two

Sessions” representatives and commissions.

On March 11, Japanese Ambassador in China Koreshige Anami and his wife Anami visited our library, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Culture Zhou Heping, Deputy Director of China

International Culture Association Liu De and his wife Gu Juanmin, Director of the Bureau of

External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture Ding Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Party

Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang visited our library and made a friendly conversation.

From March 16 to 18, our library held the Early Middle Level Leader and Secretary of the Party

Committee Work Meeting 2003. The meeting was to focus on the implementation of the guiding principle of the 16th National Congress of Communist Party of China and combine the practical work and cause development, conducting discussions on the report proposed by our library leading group concerning the future three-year work assumption. Secretary of the Party

Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang, Deputy Director Chen Li and Zhang

Xiaoxing and 49 middle level leaders and Secretary of the Party Committee of our library attended the meeting.

From March 26 to March 28, the City Library Resource Joint Construction and Sharing Work

Seminar in Parts of Provinces and Cities, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and jointly organized by Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV and

Shanghai Library, was held in Shanghai. Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture Zhou Heping and over 80 representatives from 18 provinces and municipalities directly under the Central

Government, 14 provincial capitals and city specifically designated in the state plan attended the meeting. In the seminar, the leaders from the National Library of China, Shanghai Municipal

Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV, Shanghai Library, Beijing Municipal Bureau of

Culture, the Division of Social Culture of Shenzhen Municipal Culture Bureau, Ningbo Library and Fujian Provincial Library successively delivered speeches in the meeting. The seminar also had discussions on how to further boost the development of library resource joint construction and sharing work and city library.

On March 27, our library section level or above managing leader and senior vice level or above professional leader meeting 2003 was held in the Multifunctional Hall. Director Ren Jiyu,

Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang

Yanbo and Chen Li and the library section level or above managing leaders and vice level or above professional leaders attended the meeting. In the meeting, Comrade Chen Li read the

Decision of the National Library of China Concerning Awarding the Computer Comprehensive

Management System Section and the Decision of the National Library of China Concerning

Awarding Good Quality Service Post and Good Quality Service Model 2002; Comrade Zhang

Yanbo read the list of awards outside of the library won by our library and our staff; the library leaders granted certificate of merit to the representatives who won the titles of Special Contribution Award, Good Quality Service Post and Good Quality Service Model. Later, Comrade

Chen Li conveyed the guiding principle of the National Library of China Early Middle Level

Leader and Secretary of the Party Committee Work Meeting 2003; Comrade Yang Bingyan, on behalf of the library leading group, had a report titled Comprehensively Implementing Guiding

Principle of the 16th National Congress of Communist Party of China and boosting the Cause of

National Library of China to a New Stage and deployed our work in the future three years.

April

On April 3, Modern Chinese herbalism and pharmacognostics founder Mr. Zhao Yuhuang’s

Manuscript Donation Ceremony was grandly held in Wenjin Hall of our library. Mr. Zhao

Yuhuang’s daughters and sons of Zhao Xuehua, Zhao Zejiu, Zhao Aihua, Wu Yusheng, relatives

Qian Tingtao and well-known figures in the Beijing medical circle Wang Xuetai, Xie Zongwan,

Fan Jufen, Wang Zhipu and Liu Guozheng attended the donation ceremony. Our library Director

Ren Jiyu attended the ceremony and made a speech; Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy

Director Yang Bingyan, on behalf of the National Library of China accepted the donated books;

Deputy Director Chen Li hosted the book donation ceremony.

On March 24, considering Beijing region SARS epidemic situation, our library leader decided to stop to receive in-library reader services, and during the period, leaders and related staff of our library generically went to the war of preventing this white SARS war. All staff of the Document

Delivery Section of the Stack Management & Reading Services Department still worked for the leaders. According to incompletely statistics, from April 24 to May 11, the General Information

Desk received over 4,000 telephone calls and finished over 2,000 reader entrustment service. All staff led by center director of the Logistical Service Center worked still. The daily average readers coming to the library were 40 to 50 persons, ensuring the normal operations of water, electricity, communications, material supply, printing, medical care, mail receiving and sending, car use, and facilities and equipment project construction.

That same month, the building design bidding announcement of the National Library of China Second-phase Project & National Digital Library Project, which was one of national two cultural projects during the Five-year plan period along with the Grand National Theatre, was released to the society so as to select advanced signed solutions and design institutes by means of domestic and overseas public bidding, hence, the long-waited construction of the National Library of China

Second-phase Project & National Digital Library Project started. The registration date of bidding was from April 2 to 18, 2003.

That same month, the integrated academic collected papers Wenjin Journal (first issue), which was edited by Director Ren Jiyu and hosted by the Rare Books & Special Collections Department, was published by Beijing Library Press formally. Wenjin Journal aimed at widening the field of view of Chinese traditional culture research, energetically boost the sinology study of the academic field and the ancient organization and research work of the library and published the latest achievements of collection, organization, protection and research concerning rare books & special collections of Chinese and overseas academic fields and the Rare Books & Special Collections

Department, including academic papers, collection introduction, special contents, book review, scholar interviews, academic information, etc; each issue was 300,000 words.

May

On May 7, after our library received the Circular of Donation for SARS Protection Work, in only two days, we received RMB 21,810 donated by 1317 staff of 27 departments and divisions of the library, the most individual donation was RMB 200 and the less one was RMB 5. Meanwhile, our library also donated RMB 200,000 in the name of the NLC.

On May 12, during the special period of protecting SARS, the Newspapers & Periodicals

Department insisted on providing remote services for our readers. That same day, after receiving the call of one medical company in Guangdong about entrusting to search the documents about traditional Chinese medicine, the Electronic Information Service Section sent the searched document information to the user that afternoon. Later, in only four days, we totally printed 17147 pages of materials, including 5268 full-text periodicals, 51 dissertations and 56 meeting papers, and the user granted highly appraise to the timely, correct, thorough services of the Electronic

Information Service Section.

On May 23, in order to show our staff’s greeting to the SARS front-line medical doctors and nurses, our library and the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project elaborately prepared and presented 5,000 copies of books and periodicals to the Beijing Xiaotangshan

Hospital, involving literature, art, popular science, etc.

On May 26, the Library Society of China formally released the National Library of China

Librarian Professional Ethics Regulations (trial). The Regulations aimed at implementing related principles of Guidelines for Citizen Ethics Construction of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of China, enhancing the industry self-discipline and librarian professional ethics construction of the libraries in various systems of China, cultivating the good ideological and ethical quality of the librarians and improving their social role awareness.

That same month, the SARS knowledge digital resource database constructed by the National

Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project began to be provided to the society. This resource database really recorded every detail of fighting against SARS across China, introduced food therapy, protection knowledge, latest research achievement, prevention policies and rules by means of words and videos, combining the Party and the government’s guidelines and polices of preventing SARS, promoted disease prevention knowledge and improved the self-protection ability of the public.

June

On June 6, an innovative and refreshing Skill PK activity was held at the Group of Newspaper

Section of the Newspapers and Periodicals Department. The Skill PK had five programs, newspaper separation, newspaper search, template making, table making and comprehensive program. This was one of the series trainings of the Group of Newspaper Section.

On June 9, our library recovered our in-library reader service. Up to the close at 4 am, we totally received the readers of 10,518 person-times, lent 12,372 copies of books and received 12,020 copies of returned books.

On June 10, the architecture design on-site exploration of the National Library Second-phase

Project & National Digital Library Project was held in Wenhuitang Hall of our library. 50 persons, including Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director and the Director of the Division of Construction Preparation of the National Library Second-phase

Project & National Digital Library Project Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Director Zhang Xiaoxing, Vice

President of China International Tendering Company Wang Kang and representatives of selected design institutes, attended the meeting. The meeting also answered the questions concerning digital library, library operational procedures, architecture design, business, etc.

On June 13, China Digital Library Corp. Ltd. held the press conference of the initiation of

Zhongshu Network Family in the Red Hall of our library. Deputy Director of our library, General

Manager of China Digital Library Corp. Ltd. Zhang Xiaoxing, Deputy General Manager of China

Digital Library Corp. Ltd. Peng Bo and the reporters of over 30 news media, including CCTV,

BTV, People’s Daily, Guangming Daily, attended the press conference. Later, the reporters visited the digital workshop and Zhongshu Network Family internet bar management simulation software of China Digital Library Corp. Ltd. Before that, the Ministry of Culture approved ten institutes of

China as the national internet online service business office chain operational institutes and China

Digital Library Corp. Ltd. appeared on the list of successful candidates.

On June 25, our library held the section leader experience exchange meeting in the

Multifunctional Hall of our library. Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang

Bingyan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang, Deputy

Director Chen Li and the section level or above leaders of the library attended the meeting. In the meeting, Yao Rong from the Doctoral Dissertation Section of the Acquisitions and Cataloguing

Department, Jia Lihua from the Stack Section of Stack Management & Reading Services

Department, Niu Chunlan from the Newspaper Section of the Newspapers and Periodicals Department, Cheng Zhen from the Reference & Research Department and Yin Lanning from the

National Material Section of the Branch Library introduced their work experience in recent years.

On June 29, the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project National Center held the

Mass Resource Copyright Solution Workshop in our library, the leaders from the Propaganda

Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People's

Congress, Legal Affairs Office of the State Council and National Copyright Administration of the

People's Republic of China, the judges from the Supreme People’s Court, Beijing No.1

Intermediate People’s Court and Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court, and scholars from

Peking University, Renmin University of China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and China

University of Political Science and Law attended the meeting; they watched the digital copyright management software for solving the mass digital resource copyright bottleneck independently researched and developed by the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project and conduced wide and deep discussions about how to solve the mass copyright by combining their own work practices and academic researches.

That same month, the Fourth National Library Youth Bonus Fund & National Library of China

Youth League Organization Selection Activity 2002-2003 was over smoothly. Through the applications of our departments, divisions and Youth League Organization and the seriously selections of the Youth Bonus Fund Evaluation Committee and the library League Committee, there were four comrades won the individual single item awards of the Youth Bonus Fund and one collective won the May 4th Youth Unit Award, meanwhile, the library League Committee decided to grant four League Branch Secretary, including the League Branch Secretary of the Acquisitions and Cataloguing Department the title of National Library of China Advanced League Branch, granted nine comrades, including the member of the Youth League Committee and official joint

League Branch Secretary Rong Jie, the honorary title of Excellent League Leader, granted 17 comrades, including Zhang Jie from the Library General Office, the honorary title of Excellent

League Member and granted 13 comrades, including Director of the Department of Party and

Mass Work Suo Kuihuang, the honorary title of Youth’s Friends.

That same month, our library smoothly set out to attend the Chinese Ancient Book History exhibition in Singapore.

That same month, the Overseas Book Acquisition System, which was jointly developed by the

Acquisitions and Cataloguing Department and the Book Department of the China National

Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation, started formally. Through this system, experts could browse the original latest overseas book information, recommended overseas book documents, declared book evaluation suggestions, made interaction and exchange with library administers and other experts and fully attended the information service construction and showed their professional values, therefore, this system was appraised by the experts.

July

On July 9, in order to meet the requirements of the increasingly and rapidly development of the library cause, study the library and related professional theoretical knowledge, learn about the latest news of domestic and overseas library researches so as to improve the knowledge level and decision-making ability of our leaders, our library formally initiated the program of the Library

Leader and Middle-level Managing Leader Knowledge Training. The training involved library legislation, library professional ethics construction, copyright problems, world main national library development, etc.

On July 17, our library only took nine months to recover the 221 copied of library collected

Yongle Encyclopedia totally and formally displayed them to the public. This time, we also displayed one copy of Yongle Encyclopedia recovered through the donation of the public and advocated the activity of “Starting from Me, Protecting Previous Classical Books”. The initial written proposal appealed to letting every citizen have the opportunity to attend the work of protecting Chinese historical classical books and jointly undertake the responsibility of protecting the motherland previous cultural heritages.

On July 17, the presentation ceremony of the CD of TV special program Outstanding Resistance by BTV was held in the Red Hall, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang

Bingyan, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of BTV Liu Aiqin, Director of News Center of BTV Zhang

Liang, representatives of creators in chief of the Outstanding Resistance of BTV and the directors of related departments of our library attended the presentation ceremony.

On July 18, the photo exhibition of Lu Xun’s Reading Life was opened at the Branch Library of our library, and nearly 100 persons across the country, including the experts, writers, students of universities and middle schools, attended the opening ceremony. The exhibition comprised the parts of youth time, hard reading time, writing and translation, from a professor to a freelancer, the editing of books and periodicals, displaying Lu Xun’s processes of book writing, book translation, book collection and book editing and the forming process of Lu Xun’s thought.

On July 18, the Library Party Committee held the SARS Prevention Work Conclusion and

Advanced Collective and Advanced Individual Award Meeting in the No.1 Audiovisual Room,

Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang

Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang and all leaders of the section and above levels of the library attended the meeting.

From July 19 to 22, our library middle-year middle level leaders and Party Branch Secretary Work

Meeting 2003 was held in the Changli Training Base of our library. Secretary of the Party

Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang, Deputy Director Chen Li and Zhang

Xiaoxing and over 50 middle level leaders and Party Branch Secretaries of the departments and divisions of the library attended the meeting. The meeting focused on the conclusion of the work of the first half of the year, researched and deployed the work of the second half of the year and conveyed the guiding principle of the cultural system reform pilot work.

On July 19, The Ministerial Leader Historical Culture Lecture, which was suspended due to the

SARS, was recovered in the Branch Library on the Wenjin Street. Director of Center for

Cross-Cultural Studies, Peking University and doctoral tutor Mr. Le Daiyun delivered the lecture titled Culture Conflict and its Future, and over 100 ministerial leaders in Beijing attended it. On

July 20, the lecture titled Chinese and Western Characteristics and Development was held at the

National Art Museum of China and delivered by the Deputy Dean of Central Academy of Fine Art

Mr. Fan Di’an. After the lecture, the ministers visited the reconstructed brand new National Art

Museum and the precious library collected art works of a hundred years.

On July 25, the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project (hereinafter Sharing

Project) National Center held the ceremony of granting honorary certificates to the scholars who donated work copyrights to the Sharing Project. Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture Zhao

Weisui, NLC Director Ren Jiyu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang

Bingyan, Deputy Director of the Department of Community Culture and Library of the Ministry of Culture Liu Xiaoqin, Director of Sharing Project National Center and Deputy Director of our library Zhang Xiaoxing and the investigator of the Division of Culture of the Department of

Education, Science, and Culture of the Ministry of Finance Meng Dong attended the ceremony. In the ceremony, Zhao Weisui, Yang Bingyan, Liu Xiaoqin, Zhang Xiaoxing and Meng Dong granted honorary certificates to the famous scholar Ren Jiyu, Jin Kaicheng, He Zuoxiu, Peng Pu, Qianxun,

Zhuo Xinping, Bian Zushan, Li Zhizhong and Chen Changfen, respectively.

From July 26 to 27, the National Library of China Wenjin Forum, which was closed concerned by the readers always and suspended due to the SARS, was reopened in the Branch Library, and professor of Peking University Zhang Yushu and professor of Chinese Academy of Social

Sciences Li Peilin was invited to deliver lectures, of which the titles were Come Near Zweig and

End of Village, and there were over 200 audiences to attend the lectures.

On July 28, the Disabled People Computer Training Class was held in the Disabled People’s

Reading Room of the Branch Library and nearly 20 disabled readers received the one-week computer application beginner knowledge training there.

On July 30, the first half of year work conclusion award meeting 2003 of the Logistical Service

Center was held in our staff canteen. Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan and Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo attended the award meeting. In the meeting, Comrades

Yang Bingyan and Zhang Yanbo granted honorary certificates to advanced collectives and advanced individuals who received achievements in the work of the first half of the year in 2003, especially in the period of resisting SARS.

On July 31, our library held the mobilization meeting of initiating reform pilot work in the

Multifunctional Hall, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan,

Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director

Zhang Yafang, Deputy Director Zhang Xiaoxing, all section level and above level managing leaders and senior vice level and above level technical leaders attended the meeting.

On July 31, our library and Venezuelan Embassy in China jointly held the 90th Birthday

Commemorative Activity for Venezuelan Poet Vicente Hullbath. Over 100 persons, including minister-chargé d'affaires of Venezuelan Embassy in China Enrique Badillo and parts of the ambassadors and ministers in China, our library Director Chen Li and personages of various circles of society attended the activity. In the commemorative activity, Comrade Chen Li and the cultural official of the Venezuelan Ambassy in China Cary Xerez felicitated it, the Venezuelan

Ambassy presented Vicente Hullbath’s works to our library and our library granted an honorary certificate to the Venezuelan Ambassy. Later, the guests visited Vicente Hullbath’s works and the introduction of his entire life so as to cherish the memory of this poet who enjoyed great prestige in the world.

That same month, our library library-level scientific research project work application 2003 was finished totally. Our library totally filled applications of 23 library-level scientific research projects, 11 of which were reviewed and approved by the library academic committee and 1 of them was a project for supplemental appropriation.

That same month, the National Library of China youth scientific symposium solicited article title registration was finished, receiving 99 title registrations from 10 departments. The proportions of the person number for registering titles and the younger staff number of our department that ranked the first three places were: the Reference & Research Department 100%; the Planning &

Finance Division 58% and the Branch Library 52%.

That same month, our library and China’s largest law training institution—Chinese Nation

Attorney Teaches by Correspondence the Center, jointly and formally launched the national judicial examination satellite remote training center, embarked on the construction of a law training base and strived to construct China’s largest law training base—the National Library of

China national judicial satellite remote training station.

August

On August, the National Library of China Precious Classical Book Recovery and Subscription

Activity was initiated formally in our library. Experts and scholars, including Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress Lu Yongxiang, Vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee

Wang Xuan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture Zhou Heping and Deputy Director of the

Department of Education, Science and Culture of the Ministry of Finance Fu Dong attended the initiation activity. Director of our library Mr. Ren Jiyu, Director of National Commission for

Classics Editing by Institutions of Higher Learnin and the professor of Peking University An

Pingqiu, the professor of the Department of Information Management of Peking University Bai

Huawen, Director and Research Librarian of Library Development Institute and the member of

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Li Zhizhong, Secretary-general of the former

Leading Group of the National Ancient Book Compilation, Publication and Planning, former

Editor in Chief and Copy Editor of Zhonghua Book Company Fu Xuancong, Director and

Research Fellow of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of Chinese Academy of Social

Sciences Shi Jinbo and representatives of subscription institutes and individuals attended the ceremony. Mr. Ren Jiyu and Comrade Fu Dong granted honorary certificates to subscription institutes and individuals. After the ceremony was over, our library disclosed 50 titles of catalogues in 2003.

On August 14, the bid opening ceremony of the architecture design solution of the National Library Second-phase Project & National Digital Library Project was held in Beijing. Its review evaluation committee comprised the academicians of the two academies, Chinese and overseas well-known architects, authorities in the circles of Beijing city planning, architecture experts and

Chinese libraries. They evaluated the 9 design solutions from home and aboard and fixed the design solution finally.

On August 15, the opening ceremony of the architecture design solution exhibition of the National

Library Second-phase Project & National Digital Library Project was held in Wenjin Hall of our library. The consultant of the National Library of China and the academician of the Department of

Technical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Liang Sili, the consultant of the National

Library of China and the professor of Peking Union Medical College Hospital Zhao Mian, our library’s Director Mr. Ren Jiyu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang

Bingyan, Deputy Director Zhang Yanbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy

Director Zhang Yafang, Deputy Director Chen Li and Zhang Xiaoxing, and parts of our staff attended the exhibition opening ceremony.

From August 17 to 21, the key cultural facility architecture project defined in China’s 10th

Five-year plan—the architecture design solution model of the National Library Second-phase

Project & the National Digital Library Project was displayed at the National Library of China to the public for collecting suggestions. Up to August 21, we had totally received over 2,000 votes of various readers.

On August 19, the leaders and comrades, including Vice Chairman of the National People’s

Congress Jiang Zhenghua, the member of State Council Chen Zhili and Vice Chairman of the

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Luo Haocai, visited the architecture solution exhibition of the National Library Second-phase Project & National Digital Library Project.

On August 21, over 50 academicians from the two academies came to our library to visit the architecture solution exhibition of the National Library Second-phase Project & National Digital

Library Project.

September

From September 15 to 19, our library held the one-week activity of National Library of China

Ancient Book Promotion Service Week. In addition to distributing promotion materials, such as the National Library of China Service Guide and Civilization Trip—National Library of China

Ancient Book Work to the readers, we also held the New China Ancient Book Compilation and

Publication Achievement Exhibition in Wenjin Hall and held four special lectures, the lecture titled Advanced Ancient Book Compilation which was delivered by Mr. Ren Jiyu, the lecture titled

Compilation of Archeology and Ancient Documents which was delivered by Mr. Li Xueqin, the lecture titled Compilation and Research of Ancient Novels which was delivered by Mr. Cheng

Yizhong and the lecture titled Ancient Books and Digitalization which was delivered by Mr. Yang

Chengkai. The ancient book promotion service week activity would have an active impact on the promotion of precious library collections and the increase of readers’ ancient book knowledge.

On September 15, the New China Ancient Book Compilation and Publication Achievement

Exhibition, which was hosted by the China Ancient Book Compilation, Publication and Planning

Leading Group and undertaken by the China Ancient Book Compilation, Publication, Planning

Leading Group Office, the National Library of China and the National Association of Ancient

Book Publicating House opened in Wenjin Hall of our library. This exhibition displayed over

18,000 copies of over 1,600 titles of books, displaying the relative complete process of new

China’s ancient compilation and publication cause.

On September 24, our library held the seminar of How to deeply reform the National Library of

China in the Cultural System Reform in the No. 325 meeting room of the Administrative Building of our library. The invited expert consultative members included the member of the 10th session of the CPPCC National Committee and the research fellow of the Institute of Ethnology and

Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences He Xingliang, the member of the 10th session of the CPPCC National Committee and the research fellow of the Institute of Foreign

Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Huang Mei, the associate research fellow of the Department of Military System of the Academy of Military Sciences Cong Wensheng, the associate professor of the School of Humanities of Tsinghua University Wang Qi. In the seminar, the four expert consultative members provided many previous constructive suggestions concerning the position of the National Library of China, the system and mechanism new issues of the National Library of China, the supposed National Library of China operational construction, the reader service issue, etc and fully expressed the concern and support on our library’s work.

From September 27 to 29, in order to actively response the appeal of the Central Party and the

CPC Committee directly under the Ministry of Culture and make the Party members and leaders of the National Library of China learn and master the report of the 16th National Congress, deeply understand and complete master the scientific meaning and guiding principle of the important thought of the Three Represents, continue to improve their study effects and start a new climax of studying and implementing the important thought of the Three Represents among the Party members and leaders of our library, the Library Party Committee held a knowledge competition of

Studying Guiding Principle of the 16th National Congress and Important Thought of Three

Represents in the No. 4 Audiovisual Room, and 48 competitors of 17 Party Branches of our library, excluding the Party Branch of Retired Leaders attended the competition. This competition was fierce and all competition teams were active to answer questions; in the four preliminary competitions and the final competition that were held successively, nearly 400 staff participated in or watched the competition. Through the two rounds of fierce preliminary competitions and the final competition, finally, the Library Union Party Branch won the first place in the competition and the Party Branch of the Stack Management and Reading Services Department, the Party

Branch of the Branch Library and the Party Branch of the Department of Party and Masses won the second, third and fourth places, respectively.

On September 30, the Exhibition of Rare Books with Block Printing and Other Treasures from the

Collection of the National Library of China, which was jointly held by our library and the

National Library of Hungary, was opened grandly at the National Library of Hungary in the

Budapest Palace. Over 300 persons, including Premier Minister of Hungary Megyessy Peter, the

Minister of the Ministry of Culture of Hungary Istvan Hilal, Chinese Embassy in Hungary Zhu Zushan, parts of the officials of Chinese Embassy to Hungary and the representatives in the library community and the Chinese Studies communities of Hungary attended the opening ceremony.

This exhibition displayed 100 copies (pieces) of 66 titles of the special collected rare book of our library and all of them were engraving printed matters which lasted for over 800 years. This had been the largest open exhibition since the establishment of our library, and the exhibition lasted to

December 23.

October

On October 16, the four manuscripts of the long epic Great Zhou Enlai which was elaborately written by the modern well-known writer Mr. Zhou Erfu for 13 years were donated to our library voluntarily.

From October 24-26, the 8th national joint meeting of the directors of the libraries of provinces, autonomous regions, directly municipalities directly under the Central Government and larger cities was held in Guilin, Guangxi. Over 70 directors and representatives of the libraries of the provinces, autonomous regions, directly municipalities directly under the Central Government and larger cities across the nation attended the meeting. The theme of this joint meeting was: the opportunities and challenges of the library development under the new situation of the library and advanced cultural construction.

On August 28, the one-year pre-operation of the National Library of China ALEPH500 computer comprehensive management system was over and was completely put into operation. Thus, over

91% of our library’s operations were implemented and in good running, laying a technical foundation for our library to become one of the world advanced libraries.

On August 31, the result of the architecture design solution bidding of the National Library

Second-phase Project & National Digital Library Project, which was highly concerned by the society, was disclosed. The No.5 solution from KSP Engel UND Zimmermann was fixed as the successful bid. In the solution, the body type was simple, the building height was relative low and the operational cost was relatively economical and the deign was in proper proportion to the existing building group of the National Library of China, not only having the Chinese characteristics and distinct times flavor but also embodying the service idea of people first and the strong desire of closing the readers heartily and serving the readers sincerely.

That same month, after one month of reconstruction, the No.2 Electronic Reading Room of the

Newspapers and Periodicals Department formally received the readers. The new brand reading room had a reasonable general arrangement and tables and chairs with coordinated colors, which was welcomed by the readers.

November

On November, the Second Academic Seminar of the Branch Library of the National Library of

China was grandly held in the Academic East Hall of the Branch Library, our library’s Deputy

Director Chen Li was invited to make a speech and all staff of the Branch Library attended the seminar. In the meeting, there were 12 papers for exchanges, involving aspects of special collected document construction, librarians’ quality and trainings, document protection and researches, information technical application, etc.

From November 24 to December 1, the delegation of the National Library of China led by our library’s Deputy Director Chen Li and included the Director of the Coordination & Operation

Division Wang Dongbo, Director of the Newspapers and Periodicals Department Hao Shouzhen,

Wang Du from the International Cooperation Division and Li Jizi from the Newspapers and

Periodicals Department went to the National Library of Korea for visit and business exchange.

From November 24 to December 3, under the invitation of our library, a five-member delegation led by the Director of the Department of Bibliography of the National Diet Library Harada came to our library for the 23rd business exchange and visited Zhejiang province and Shanghai. Deputy

Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang of our library and relevant directors of departments and divisions attended the exchange activity. Through the business exchange, the National Library of China and the National Diet Library fully and mutually appraised the good library exchange and friendly cooperation and expected to enhance the mutual cooperation continuously and jointly boosted the future development of the library cause.

On November 28, our library held the National Library of China First Youth Scientific Seminar in the Multifunctional Hall. Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan,

Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Zhang Yafang, Deputy Director

Zhang Xiaoxing and all middle-level leaders and young staff of our library attended the meeting.

The seminar was hosted by Comrade Zhang Yafang. Later, we held 3 rewarded paper seminars, the participants and paper writers made exchanges and discussions concerning the common interesting contents of the papers.

December

On December 1, the National Library of China Library Collected Fine Model Calligraphy

Exhibition opened in the Treasured Collections Display Room of our library. The over 30 items of rubbings of this exhibition were the fine works among the model calligraphy from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty that were collected in the library, including the earliest and the most precious rubbing collected in the library—Song rubbing Jiangtie and Yan Zhenqing’s Zhenzouweitie which was one of the two greatest running script model calligraphies along with Wang Xizhi’s Lantingxu.

Hence, the National Library of China Public Reading Month 2003 began.

On December 1, the Newspaper Section of the Newspaper and Periodicals Department of our library held the Shenzhou V extra exhibition in the No.2 Chinese Newspaper Reading Room, totally displaying 73 titles of newspapers published the special news about the celebration of the successful launch of the Shenzhou V across China, which was welcomed by the readers.

On December 6, the initiation ceremony of the Public Reading Month, which was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture, the Library Society of China and the National Library of China, was held at our library. The standing vice president of the Library Society of China and Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan, Deputy Director of the Department of

Community Culture and Library of the Ministry of Culture Liu Xiaoqin, Deputy Dean of the

Institute of Ethnic Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Chao Gejin, Deputy

Director of our library Zhang Xiaoxing, the standing vice president of the Library Society of

China Sun Peixin, Director of the the Department of Information Management of Peking

University and related library representatives attended the initiation ceremony. In the ceremony,

Comrade Yang Bingyan announced the establishment of the Library Society of China public reading Reading Guide Committee and openly collected the logo design solution of the Public

Reading. Later, Comrade Wang Yuguang read the congratulatory letter to the fourth Public

Reading Month from the director of culture project of Beijing Representative Office of the

UNESCO. Up to now, we had held four National Library of China Public Reading Month activity, which attracted the extremely great interest and participation of the readers, had a great impact on the society and played a positive role in fully taking the advantage of the important functions of public education and social training of the National Library of China and improving the public quality.

On December 8, our library held the Expert Consultative Council Seminar on Foreign Periodicals

Acquisition Work in the No.313 Meeting Room of our library. In the meeting, the expert consultative council gave constructive suggestions on the aspects of library collection revelation, coordinated acquisitions of foreign periodicals in library and information institutes in Beijing, basis and academic scale of foreign periodical acquisitions, introduction and utilization of electronic resources, printed edition and electronic edition document preservation and conservation.

On December 8, the national key cultural project Present Books to Countryside project undertaken by our library was formally initiated in Xibaipo, the holy land of revolution. The first group of over 1,500 copies of nearly 400 titles of books with the special logo of the Present Books to

Countryside project were relocated at the library of Xibaipo Town, which involved politics, economy, culture, education, legal knowledge, popular scientific books, rural practical technology, medical care, literature and art, encyclopaedic knowledge and celebrity bibliography, practical and readable, meeting the demand of rural readers. Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture Zhou

Heping, Minister Assistant of the Ministry of Finance Feng Shuping, Vice governor of Hebei

Province, Long Zhuangwei, Director of the Department of Community Culture and Library of the

Ministry of Culture Zhang Xu, Deputy Director of the Department of Community Culture and

Library of the Ministry of Culture Liu Xiaoxu and Deputy Director of our library Zhang Yafang attended the initiation ceremony. Hence, the three-year Present Books to Countryside project began to implement.

On December 9, the ceremony of presenting books by the National Library of Rumania to the

National Library of China was grandly held in Red Hall of our library. Secretary of the Party

Committee and Deputy Director Yang Bingyan and the ambassador of Rumanian Embassy in

China attended the ceremony. This time, the National Library of Rumania presented 219 copies of precious books totally to our library, involving the aspects of Rumanian literature, history research, art, collectively reflecting the unique style of Rumanian historical culture. Comrade Yang Bingyan, on behalf of the National Library of China, received the presented books and granted the honorary certificates to the ambassador of Rumanian Embassy in China, the representative of the presenter.

On December 10, the voting of the Haidian District 13th Deputy to the People’s Congress Election at expiration of office terms was formally carried out. Liu Aiwen and Zhang Yanbo, the two deputies to the People’s Congress were elected legally and democratically and the sixth election area’s election work was finished smoothly.

On December 22, the Reader Seminar and National Library of China Reading Model Award

Ceremony 2003 was held grandly. Deputy Director of our library Chen Li, Director of the

Coordination & Operation Division Wang Dongbo, leaders of our operational departments and 10 newly-elected reader models attended the reader seminar and the award ceremony. The 10 reader models of this year were mostly research type readers, and they fully made use of our different documents and various service modes to receive wonderful achievements in separate research fields. On December 25, our library held the National Library of China Consultant Work Meeting. In the meeting, Mr. Ren Jiyu, on behalf of our library, expressed heartfelt thanks to the support from the consultants all around the year; Comrade Zhang Yanbo made a report about our library main work 2003 to the consultants, mainly introduced the process and further plan of the Rescued

Project of Chinese Rare Books undertaken by our library; The consultants stated that the

Rescued Project of Chinese Rare Books was a national cultural project for promoting Chinese excellent traditional culture and flourishing academic research; they also appraised our library’s other operations.

That same month, in the light of the requirement of the Circular on Warning Education

Concerning Li Peng Criminal Case issued by the Supervisory Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, our library carried out a warning education concerning Li Peng Criminal Case. The warning education lasted a half of a month, and after the end of the education, our department and division compiled written reports and made a serious conclusion on the study. Through the study, our staff experienced a christening of ethnics education and received a practical warning for clearing the discipline by cases, improving monitoring and strengthening the self-discipline. Our library would use Li Peng’ case to deepen the ethnics education for the staff continuously, improve the monitor management mechanism and promote our library’s work.