网罗八方，存一代文化记忆

徐添城

9月16日至17日，中國近代文献保护工程推进仪式暨学术研讨会在绍兴举行，150余名来自学术界、出版界和图书馆藏界的专家学者齐聚绍兴，为绍兴出版《中国近代文献史丛》这部系统性、完整性、权威性的近代文献典籍丛书出谋划策，围绕中国近代文献保护工作展开了深度探讨。

原国家新闻出版总署署长、党组书记，中国出版协会理事长柳斌杰先生对这场“聚会”感触颇深。对这座古城孕育这一“念旧”又“新生”的工程，他说，要感谢绍兴这座城市的文化担当。

9月16日晚，绍兴沈园，书声琅琅。作为此次中国近代文献保护工程推进仪式的“预热大戏”，“书香绍兴”沈园之夜诵读会在这里举行。《兰亭序》节选、《题兰竹》、《墨梅》、《钗头凤》……十余件经典作品在绍兴本土朗读者的一腔深情中款款道来。

“你看，我们的文化和艺术，在现在看来，不再是‘王谢堂前燕，而已经‘走入寻常百姓家了。”舞台下，看着那些年轻的朗读者，柳斌杰感到欣慰和骄傲，“真的十分感动。”他说，这场展示绍兴经典文化遗产的晚会，让观众领略到了文化之美、书香之美和艺术之美。他说，那些穿越千年的文化生命力，在绍兴的专家学者、艺术家、少年儿童的演绎中闪现了新的光芒，以艺术的形式，拨开历史面纱，向人们“漫步走来”。

“不得不佩服这座城市的魅力，真是书香育人。”柳斌杰说。

在柳斌杰看来，文化是需要长期涵养的。在这方水土上成长起来的人，潜移默化地，就会培育起自己的文化追求。而这份追求，通过阅读升华，逐步提升为文化担当。“从绍兴走出过很多文化大师、大家，他们从这里成长起来，有着强烈的文化担当，其实也正好说明了，绍兴的文化氛围有多么积极的影响。”

而如今，这座拥有2500年历史的文化名城，在文化保护与创新的征途上又有了新使命。

中国近代文献史料，珍贵但“脆弱”。受纸质、印刷等条件限制，其受损情况日益严重，亟需采取复制、再造等抢救性措施来保护。但受限于种种条件，对于中国近代文献，国内至今尚未进行过一次系统、完整、权威的整理。为填补这个文化保护“缺口”，中国近代文献保护工程在绍兴应运而生。如今，绍兴启动中国近代文献保护工程，对这些散佚世界各地的史料文献进行重新整理印刷，掀起的是一场对中华文化遗产的抢救性保护。

“我们要推进的这项工程，目的很明确，就是为了传承文化血脉。”柳斌杰说，这项工程的意义和责任都很重大。“对于古迹文化，我们越来越重视，经过60多年的整理，古迹保护传承工作已经有了相当大的规模。对于当代历史，也启动了一系列重大工程来加以传承和保护。”如此看来，恰恰是近代文献的传承保护成了一个薄弱环节。

在柳斌杰看来，这“缺失”的一部分却又十分重要。因为，中华民族文化的血脉需要接续起来，而近代文献是其中的重要一环。柳斌杰说，“文化是跨时空的，而人是代代相传的，我们这一代人有这个责任把这些文化传承给子孙后代。”

北京大学博雅讲席教授、教育部长江学者特聘教授陈平原表示，这样网罗八方、规模宏大的计划，尚属首见。若能顺利完成，则嘉惠学界，功德无量。而出版社的相关负责人表示，在传统纸质出版的同时，借助数字化技术，可以将中华文化的精髓栩栩如生地展现，有着“存一代文献”的意义。

这件“大事”的分量，一方面体现在历史价值上，“近代文献系统记录着中华民族发展历史，不可忘，也不能丢。”而另一方面，则体现在文献价值上，近代中国文献是现代中国发展的一个前提。此外，还有文化价值，近代中国出现了一个思想争鸣的时代，近代文献则是最好的见证，它记载了我们最宝贵的思想，也体现出文化发展的大体脉络，意义不言而喻。

“但是我们也需要认识到，这个工程任务非常艰巨，没有20年是做不下来的。”柳斌杰说，此次参与推进会的专家学者一致呼吁，要聚全国之力，聚学术界、出版界之力，聚文化馆、博物馆之力来共同推进项目实施，“这些要素都调动起来，我相信绍兴一定能把这件事情做好。”

绍兴的这份底气，还来源于文化自觉和文化自信。柳斌杰说，对文化的保护与传承，这里的每个主体都在努力。“绍兴市委、市政府有着高度的文化自觉，他们在推动文化工程建设方面下了很大决心，积极推动政府机关、学校、民营企业参与到文化建设中；绍兴人民有着坚定的文化自信，特别是对绍兴的文化有着强烈的自豪感。我最早到绍兴是在改革开放初期，印象中，每到一地，人们都会滔滔不绝地讲述绍兴文化，绍兴人对自己的文化是非常自豪的。绍兴的企业家，包括民营企业家有着绝对的文化担当和文化情怀。比如为这项保护工作付出不少心血的浙江越生，一家企业，花了20多年时间做这件‘文化事，实在令人敬佩。”

“团结一致向前进。”柳斌杰说，“牵手”绍兴，凝聚各方力量，中华文化的魅力，终将越发沉淀而又充满活力。

From September 16 to 17， 2018， a symposium on promotion and preservation of modern historical documents was held in Shaoxing， a city of culture and history in eastern Zhejiang.

Over 150 experts and scholars from academic institutions， publishing houses and libraries gathered in the city to brainstorm for the compilation and publication of a book series named Historical Documents of Modern-time China. Also among the attendees were government officials at the national， provincial and municipal levels. They aimed to find ways to make the series best systemized， most complete， and most authoritative. The libraries and other institutions at home and abroad will contribute source books to the series.

The project was officially launched in January 2018. The series aims to reprint a carefully compiled collection of books in economy， literature， education， art， history， and geography originally published from 1840 to 1949， a period named as modern times by historians and other scholars in China. It is a special period， marked by the opium wars around the 1840s which forced China to open its doors to the world powers， and by the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949.

On the evening of September 16， a poem-reading event was held at Shen Garden， a well-known site of cultural and historical interests located in downtown Shaoxing. Local literature enthusiasts read short poems and an excerpt of ， all of which are more or less related to Shaoxing.

Liu Binjie， a retired government official who used to be in charge of the state press administration and now chair of China Publishers Association， highly appreciated the role Shaoxing played in hosting and promoting the reprinting project. The series， in the eye of Liu， is meant to bring the past back to the present. “Our culture and art should never stay in the past. They have every reason to be part of everyday life of the general public. Shaoxing is admirable in preserving and promoting culture，” pointed out Liu.

In Lius opinion， culture needs a long time to grow and thrive and reading can contribute to cultural prosperity. “Shaoxing has produced a great number of scholars and celebrated people in the past， which in turn says convincingly about the historical and cultural characteristics of the city，” commented Liu Binjie.

The project was originally launched by Yuesheng Culture Media Group， a private printing and publishing business in Shaoxing， a city of 2，500 years. The company has been engaged in this project for more than 20 years. The project now gets the full backing of the local government and the provincial government. The national government is considering ways to help.

In modern times， China has produced a large quantity of historical documents. Due to the modern technology of papermaking and printing， many of these historical documents are in critical conditions to varying degrees. Books printed in the feudal China used paper made in the traditional way and could last 500 to 700 years under normal circumstances. Paper made in modern times is meant to endure only for decades. That is largely why scholars and experts and governmental officials for a long time are worried about the conditions of the books printed during the so-called modern times and why they are responding so enthusiastically to the reprinting project going on in Shaoxing.

Before now， China didnt have a systematic， complete and authoritative rescue project to restore and reprint them. Shaoxings mission is the latest effort to preserve historical documents which are now scattered all over the world. The project aims to pick the most valuable and reprint them.

“This project has a clear-cut purpose： we are to preserve the historical documents for studies in the future. This project is of great significance and responsibility，” emphasized Liu. “In the past 60 years， we have done a great deal to preserve ancient documents. There are a number of important projects in place to preserve and protect contemporary documents， but the preservation of historical documents published from 1840 to 1949 is inadequate.”

Chen Pingyuan， a professor with Peking University， said at the symposium that the reprinting project is both ambitious and unprecedented. The series， when completed， would make a great contribution to Chinese culture and academic research and studies. The series is significant primarily because these historical documents are actually a record of Chinese nation during that specific historical period. We should never forget or ignore this period. The series is culturally significant because the books published during these years recorded a great variety of voices and ideologies. People of these years competed with each other announcing their worldviews and analyses and proposing solutions to a series of grave problems that were ravaging China.

The project aims to be complete within next ten years and the total investment is estimated to be about 600 million to 700 million. “But we need to understand that the project is so challenging that it will probably take 20 years to complete，” pointed out Liu Binjie.