NOTES AND QUERIES
ANOTHER (MISSING?) LIBRARY
157
In 1935, after two years' travel and study in China, Gerald Yorke's book China Changes was published by Jonathan Cape of London. In Chapter Eight, entitled "In Search of a Hermitage", the following extract (p. 159) refers to a library at, it would appear from the final paragraph, "the temple of the Mountain Cave (Tung Yuan) above Lanchi." This is county in Chekiang Province.
"In the meantime Li [Li Yuen-tzu, his companion, interpreter and friend, to whom the book is dedicated] had heard of a temple in the hills behind the town. It was not easy to find, and at first sight proved disappointing; for a family of peasants were in charge. But a draper's assistant, whose master had failed, was staying there to study. I had stumbled on a library presented by a scholar (Chao Ke-lao) in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. A tablet in his handwriting still bears witness to the gift. The books are in their original bindings and as fresh as if printed yesterday. Several appear to be of great age. This is hardly surprising, as the Tripitaka, the Bible of Chinese Buddhism in over one thousand volumes (the San Ts'ang), was first struck off wood blocks in the nine hundred and seventy-second year of Our Lord.
The draper's assistant knew his way about and picked out for me volumes with exquisite woodcuts as frontispieces. Unfortunately, he never distinguished between the dynasty in which a book had been written or translated, and the century in which it had been printed. I longed for a bibliophile to enlighten me. Over two thousand books printed before the year 1500 survive in as clean a condition as anyone could wish. Before taking them from their cases, sticks of incense and candles are lit by the peasant in charge. It gave me a real thrill to find such a treasure so respected in the hills. The veneration in which learning is held in China has no counterpart in the West.
There were too many people living at the temple of the Mountain Cave (Tung Yuan) above Lanchi. I decided to return to the Ch'ientang gorges, where the temple of the Master of the Water Rushes (Lu Su Chen Kung) had attracted me with its name."
Does anyone know if this library still exists?
Hong Kong. January, 1981.
JAMES HAYES