The Guardians of State Treasures

After his military service came to an end in the winter of 1983， Zheng Xingbao came back to his home town Nanxun， a riverside town with a long history of culture and old money thanks to the flourishing silk export business in the late 19th and early 20th century. He had worked as a political instructor at the company level in the military. It happened that Zhejiang Library was looking for a new guardian for Jiaye Library situated in Nanxun while Zheng was looking for a job. Zheng and another man were on the final shortlist.

The two finalists were equally excellent in every aspect. After an interview with the deputy director of the provincial library， Zheng was chosen because he did not smoke. Zheng was given a stern caveat: Make sure no fire ever happens to the Jiaye Library or you go to hell. The strict precaution is understandable， for the library with priceless ancient books is a cultural treasure under state protection. Zheng Xingbao officially became the curator of the library in April， 1984.

The construction of the Jiaye Library began in the early winter of 1920 and after about four years， the project was completed. Fortunately it has become modern China’s best private library with the largest and best preserved collection of ancient books. The collection consists of 600，000 volumes in 180，000 titles. The collection highlights three outstanding features: 150，000 woodcuts carved in the Song and Yuan dynasties， a large quantity of handwritten manuscripts， and a large number of regional chronicles. On November 19， 1951， the owner Liu Chenggan (1881-1963) donated the whole library to the state. This is how the library came into the custody of Zhejiang Library.

Zheng Xingbao is the fourth guardian of the library since the 1920s. Fortunately for him， a provincial training course was held in Nanxun in 1985 to give people like him professional training on everything about ancient books. He studied hard. The course and subsequent self-studies in the following years turned him into a qualified guardian. Zheng knows where every book is.

One important part of his job is to keep the library safe from all possible hazards. To ensure safety of the library， the library proper does not have any electric equipment or electricity. Only a small bungalow away from the library house and near the gate has power supply. Zheng and his wife and their son lived there for a long while. Part of the bungalow doubles as the office and duty room. He takes a night inspection around the library every night. He watches closely whenever there is rainstorm or snow for fear of leaking in the roof.

Since 1992 the library has been open to tourists and general public. Before 1992， the library was quiet and almost dustless. Every morning， Zheng Xingbao changes into an overall and sweeps the floor and opens the windows for ventilation. After the yearly rain season， he gets up early to open all the windows for extra ventilation. After lunch， he shuts down the windows on the west and leaves the windows on the east open. When windows are open， he watches the sky closely for fear of sudden gusts or rains. In the past， he placed mothballs in bookshelves to keep books free of insects and nowadays a herb called Cymbopogon distans is used for the same purpose.

Another big part of his job is paper work. He repairs ancient books and he has made a complete catalogue of all the books in the library. The Zhejiang Library had long since wanted to make such a catalogue. It was not until Zheng Xingbao became the new guardian that the cataloguing began. In 1986， Zheng launched the ambitious undertaking. Following a national standard for cataloguing reliable editions of ancient books， he has catalogued 110，000 books in more than 8，000 titles. And he has had all the wood bookracks constructed and put all the 150，000 woodcuts on shelves. The project took him eight years to complete.

Though the library is open to the general public， the storerooms are strictly off limits. If you want to read a book， you must qualify as a reader and register first before Zheng goes to fetch a book and carry it to the bungalow and watches while you read the book. The book is never out of the guardian’s sight.

Now Zheng Xingbao is nearly 60 and is about to retire. The town government recommended a few candidates to succeed him， but all the candidates were turned down by Zhejiang Library. Then who is suitable for the job， which seemingly has no future and offers little excitement and no fancy pay?

Zheng recommended his son Zheng Zongnan. He believes his only child who grew up in the library is best suitable for the job. When the mother phoned the junior， then a college sophomore studying in Shaoxing， and asked him to consider the possibility， the son hesitated. He knew he would love this job and make the commitment， but he was studying house decoration at the college. He later decided to try his hand.

The father and the son jointly wrote a letter to the Zhejiang Library. The management agreed to put the son up for training. Zheng Zongnan came to Hangzhou to study book restoration under the guidance of professionals. After his return from Hangzhou， he participated in the work of cataloguing cultural relics at the three national cultural sites in Nanxun. After four months， the young man began to repair and restore books and took over his father’s unfinished project.

Book repair and restoration sounds simple， but it is really complex at Jiaye Library. The fledgling guardian needed to know all the keys and all the locks， for all the books are under key and lock. For this reason alone， he needed to get himself acquainted with the whereabouts of all the books. He needed to get down to the job of restoring damaged pages and covers and rebinding books. It took him a year to know the whereabouts of all the books， keys， and locks. And within a year， he restored more than 200 books under his father’s guidance.

Zheng Zongnan is really suitable for the job. He is quiet and can sit for a long while. The new guardian says working there is not glorious at all， but it is important. The young man works very hard as his father does. Now the precious library is under his watch. The young man thinks he is more than a guardian of Jiaye Library. He is a guardian of our national culture.□