Chinese Library Classification

The Chinese Library Classification (CLC; Chinese: 中国图书馆分类法), also known as Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL),^[1] is effectively the national library classification scheme in China. It is used in almost all primary and secondary schools, universities, academic institutions, as well as public libraries. It is also used by publishers to classify all books published in China.

The Book Classification of Chinese Libraries (BCCL) was first published in 1975, under the auspices of China's Administrative Bureau of Cultural Affairs. Its fourth edition (1999) was renamed CLC. In September 2010, the fifth edition was published by National Library of China Publishing House. CLC has twenty-two top-level categories, and inherits a Marxist orientation from its earlier editions.^[2] (For instance, category A is Marxism, Leninism, Maoism & Deng Xiaoping Theory.) It contains a total of 43600 categories, many of which are recent additions, meeting the needs of a rapidly changing nation.^[3]

The CLC system

The 22 top categories and selected sub-categories of CLC (5th Edition) are as follows:

A. Marxism, Leninism, Maoism and Deng Xiaoping theory

A1 The works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
A2 The works of Vladimir Lenin
A3 The works of Joseph Stalin
A4 The works of Mao Zedong
- A49 The works of Deng Xiaoping
A5 The symposium/collection of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Deng Xiaoping
A7 The biobibliography and biography of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Deng Xiaoping
A8 Study and research of Marxism, Leninism, Maoism and Deng Xiaoping theory

B. Philosophy and religions

B-4 Education and dissemination of philosophy
- B-49 Learners' book and popular literature of philosophy
B0 theory of philosophy
- B0-0 Marxist philosophy
- B01 Basic problems of philosophy
  - B014 Object, purpose and method of philosophy
  - B015 Materialism and idealism
  - B016 Ontology
    - B016.8 Cosmology
    - B016.9 Time-space-theory
  - B017 Epistemology
    - B017.8 Determinism and indeterminism
    - B017.9 Self theory
  - B018 Axiology
    - B019.1 Materialism
      - B019.11 Naive materialism
      - B019.12 Metaphysical materialism
      - B019.13 Dialectical materialism
    - B019.2 Idealism
- B02 Dialectical materialism
  - B024 Materialist dialectics
  - B025 Categories of materialist dialectics
  - B026 Methodology
  - B027 Application of dialectical materialism
  - B028 Natural philosophy
  - B029 Dialectics of nature
- B03 Historical materialism
  - B031 Social material requirements of life
  - B032 Basic social conflict
    - B032.1 Productive forces und relations of production
    - B032.2 Base and superstructure
  - B033 Class theory
  - B034 Theory of revolution
  - B035 Theory of country
  - B036 Social being and social consciousness
  - B037 Contradictions among the people
  - B038 Role of the people in historical development
- B08 Philosophical schools and research
  - B081 Idealism
    - B081.1 Metaphysics
    - B081.2 Epistemology of idealism, apriorism
  - B082 Positivism, Machism
  - B083 Voluntarism and philosophy of life
  - B084 Neo-Kantianism and Neohegelianism
  - B085 Neorealism, logical positivism (new positivism, logical empiricism)
  - B086 Existentialism (survivalism)
  - B087 Pragmatism
  - B088 Neo-Thomism (new scholasticism)
  - B089 Other philosophical schools
    - B089.1 Western Marxism
    - B089.2 Philosophical hermeneutics
    - B089.3 Philosophical anthropology
B1 Philosophy (worldwide)
B2 Philosophy in China
- B22 Pre-Qin Dynasty philosophy (~before 220 BC)
  - B222 The Confucian School
    - B222.2 Confucius (Kǒng Qiū, 551-479 BC)
B3 Philosophy in Asia
B4 Philosophy in Africa
B5 Philosophy in Europe
B6 Philosophy in Australasia
B7 Philosophy in America
B8 Cognitive science
B9 Religions
- B91 Sociology of religion, religion and science
- B92 Philosophy and history of religion
- B93 Mythology and primitive religion
- B94 Buddhism
- B95 Taoism
- B96 Islam
- B97 Christianity
  - B971 Bible
    - B971.1 Old Testament
    - B971.2 New Testament
  - B972 Doctrine, theology
  - B975 Evangelism, sermons
  - B976 Christian denominations
    - B976.1 Roman Catholic Church
    - B976.2 Orthodox Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy)
    - B976.3 Protestantism (Protestant Reformation)
  - B977 Ecclesiastical polity
  - B978 Research on Christianity
  - B979 History of Christianity
    - B979.9 Biography
- B98 Other religions
- B99 Augury, superstition

C. Social sciences

C0 Social scientific theory and methodology
C1 Present and future of social sciences
C2 Organisations, groups, conferences
C3 Method of research in social sciences
C4 Education and popularization of social sciences
C5 Serials, anthologies, periodicals in social sciences
C6 Reference materials in social sciences
C7 (no longer used)
C8 Statistics in social sciences
C9 Sociology

D. Politics and law

D0 Political theory
D1 International campaign of Communism
D2 Communist Party of China
D3 Communist parties of other countries
D4 Labor, peasant, youth, female organizations and movements
D5 Politics (worldwide)
D6 Politics in China
D7 Politics in individual countries
D8 Diplomacy, international relations
D9 Law
DF Law (Applications of laws)

E. Military science

E0 Military theory
E1 Military (worldwide)
E2 Military in China
E3 Military in Asia
E4 Military in Africa
E5 Military in Europe
E6 Military in Australasia
E7 Military in America
E8 Strategies, tactics, and battles
E9 Military technology

F. Economics

F0 Economics
F1 Economics, economic history and economic geography of individual countries
F2 Economic planning and management
F3 Agricultural economics
F4 Industrial economics
F5 Economics of transport
F6 Economics of postal and cable services
F7 Economics of commerce
F8 Finance and banking

G. Culture, science, education and sports

G0 Philosophy of culture
G1 Culture
G2 Knowledge transmission
G3 Science, scientific research
G4 Education
G5 Education in individual countries
G6 Education (primary, secondary, tertiary)
G7 Education (specialized)
G8 Sports

H. Languages and linguistics

H0 Linguistics
- H01 Phonetics
  - H019 Method of recitation, oratory of speech
- H02 Grammatology
- H03 Semantics, lexicology and meaning of words
  - H033 Idiom
  - H034 Adage
- H04 Syntax
- H05 Study of writing, rhetoric
  - H059 Study of translation
- H06 Lexicography
  - H061 Dictionaries
H1 Chinese language
- H10
  - H102 Regulation, standardisation of Chinese language, promotion of Putonghua
  - H109
    - H109.2 Ancient Chinese language
    - H109.4 Modern Chinese language
- H11 Phone (historical Chinese phonology)
- H12 Grammatology
H2 Languages of China's ethnic minorities
H3 Commonly used foreign languages
- H31 English language
- H32 French language
- H33 German language
- H34 Spanish language
- H35 Russian language
- H36 Japanese language
- H37 Arabic language
H4 Family of Sino-Tibetan languages (China, Tibet and Burma)
H5 Family of Altaic languages (Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic)
H6 Language families in other areas of the world
- H61 Austroasiatic languages and Tai languages (Mainland Southeast Asia))
- H62 Dravidian languages (South India)
- H63 Austronesian languages (Malayo-Polynesian)
- H64 Paleosiberian languages (Siberia)
- H65 Ibero-Caucasian languages (Caucasus Mountains)
- H66 Uralic languages
- H67 Afroasiatic languages (Southwest Asia, Arabian Peninsula, North Africa)
H7 Indo-European languages
H8 Language families on other continents
- H81 African languages
- H83 American languages
- H84 Papuan languages
H9 International auxiliary languages (Interlingua, Ido, Esperanto, etc.)

I. Literature

I0 Literary theory
I1 Literature (worldwide)
I2 Literature in China
I3 Literature in Asia
I4 Literature in Africa
I5 Literature in Europe
I6 Literature in Australasia
I7 Literature in America

J. Art

J0 Theory of fine art
J1 Fine art of the world
J2 Painting
J3 Sculpture
J4 Photography
J5 Applied arts
J6 Music
J7 Dance
J8 Drama
J9 Cinematography, television

K. History and geography

N. Natural science

N0 Theory and methodology
N1 Present state
N2 Organisations, groups, conferences
N3 Research methodology
N4 Education and popularization
N5 Serials, anthologies, periodicals
N6 Reference materials
N8 Field surveys
N9 Minor sciences

O. Mathematics, physics and chemistry

P. Astronomy and geoscience

Q. Life sciences

U. Transportation

U1 General transport
U2 Railway transport
U4 Highway transport
U6 Marine transport

V. Aviation and Aerospace

V1 Research and Exploration of Aviation and Aerospace Technology
V2 Aviation
V4 Aerospace (Spaceflight)
V7 Aerospace Medicine ^[4]

X. Environmental science

X1 Fundamental environmental science
X2 Environmental research
X3 Environmental protection and management
X4 Disaster protection
X5 Pollution control
X7 Waste Management and recycling
X8 Environmental quality monitoring
X9 Occupational safety and health

Z. General works

Z1 Collectanea/generalia (book series)
- Z12 Collectanea of China
  - Z121 General collectanea
    - Z121.2 Song Dynasty
    - Z121.3 Yuan Dynasty
    - Z121.4 Ming Dynasty
    - Z121.5 Qing Dynasty
    - Z121.6 Republic period
    - Z121.7 Modern
  - Z122 Collectanea of a particular locality
  - Z123 Collectanea by members of a particular family
  - Z124 Collectanea by individual writers
  - Z125 Collectanea of lost books
  - Z126 Collectanea of Chinese classics
    - Z126.1 Collection of Confucian classics
    - Z126.2 Collection of treatises
      - Z126.21 General collection
      - Z126.22 Remake of lost books
      - Z126.23 Collection of a particular theme
      - Z126.24 Chronological tables, tablets, illustrated works
      - Z126.25 Works on phonetics, semantics and authenticity
      - Z126.27 Research, critics and proves
- Z13 Collectanea and book series of Asia
- Z14 Book series of Africa
- Z15 Book series of Europe
- Z16 Book series of Oceania
- Z17 Book series of America
Z2 Encyclopedias and Chinese encyclopedias (Leishu)
- Z22 Chinese encyclopedias
  - Z221 Tang Dynasty
  - Z222 Song Dynasty
  - Z223 Yuan Dynasty
  - Z224 Ming Dynasty
  - Z225 Qing Dynasty
  - Z226 Republic
  - Z227 Modern
  - Z228 General popular literature
    - Z228.1 Children's books
    - Z228.2 Popular youth books
    - Z228.3 Elders' books
    - Z228.4 Women's readers
    - Z228.5 Men's readers
- Z23 Encyclopedias of Asia
- Z24 Encyclopedias of Africa
- Z25 Encyclopedias of Europe
- Z26 Encyclopedias of Oceania
- Z27 Encyclopedias of America
- Z28 Encyclopedias of a particular field
Z3 Dictionaries
Z4 Symposia, anthologies, selected works, essays
Z5 Almanac
Z6 Serials, periodicals
Z8 Catalogues, abstracts, indexes

Other classifications

The other library classifications in China are:

Library Classification of the People’s University of China (LCPUC)
Library Classification of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LCCAS)
Library Classification for Medium and Small Libraries (MSL)
Library Classification of Wuhan University (LCWU)

The other library classifications for Chinese materials outside mainland China are:

Cambridge University Library Chinese Classification System Archived 2007-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, Classification Scheme for Chinese Books devised by Profs. Haloun and P. van der Loon for Cambridge University, UK.
University of Leeds Classification of Books in Chinese, UK (36 pages of Catalog in PDF)
Harvard-Yenching Classification System
New Classification Scheme for Chinese Libraries (commonly used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau)

References

^ "Chinese Library Classification | The CIARD R.I.N.G." ring.ciard.net. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
^ Zhang, Wenxian (2003). Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL): Histories, accomplishments, problems and its comparisons. Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences, vol. 41, nr. 1, p. 1-22. (PDF)
^ The Standardization of Chinese Library Classification, Xiaochun Liu, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, Volume 16, Issue 2, ISSN 0163-9374, Pub Date: 8/13/1993
^ Chinese Library Classification. National Library of China Publishing. 1991. ISBN 9787501343935.

External links

Official website
Contemporary Classification Systems and Thesauri in China, Zhang Qiyu, Liu Xiangsheng, Wang Dongbo, 62nd IFLA General Conference - Conference Proceedings - August 25-31, 1996
Chinese Library Classification Editorial Board
Abridged third (obsolete) edition of CLC (in Chinese)
CLC Online (in Chinese)
Research on Interoperability of Metadata in Classification Schemes-construction of automatic mapping system between CLC and DDC, Jianbo Dai, Hanqing Hou, Ling Cao, Dept. of Libr. & Inform. Sci., Nanjing Agri. Univ., Nanjing, China 210095
Construction of Knowledge Base for Automatic Indexing and Classification based on CLC, Hanqing Hou, Chunxiang Xue, Nanjing Agri. Univ., Nanjing, China 210095
An Intelligent Retrieval System for Chinese Agricultural Literature indexed by Chinese Classification System, Ping Qian, Xiaolu Su, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
East Asian Library Classification Systems, archived
The Development of Authority Database in National Library of China (NLC), March 2002, Beixin Sun of NLC NLC's classification subject thesaurus database based on CLC.
National Bibliographies: the Chinese Experience, 72nd IFLA Conference at Seoul in Korea, August 2006, Ben Gu of NLC An overview of the current situation of the National Bibliography and classification systems in China.
A month at the Shanghai Library, November 2004, Helen Michael, University of Toronto A librarian from Canada shared her experience of working in a library of China.

[1] "Chinese Library Classification | The CIARD R.I.N.G." ring.ciard.net. Retrieved 2020-05-11.

[2] Zhang, Wenxian (2003). Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL): Histories, accomplishments, problems and its comparisons. Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences, vol. 41, nr. 1, p. 1-22. (PDF)

[3] The Standardization of Chinese Library Classification, Xiaochun Liu, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, Volume 16, Issue 2, ISSN 0163-9374, Pub Date: 8/13/1993

[4] Chinese Library Classification. National Library of China Publishing. 1991. ISBN 9787501343935.

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v t e Library classification systems
Bliss (BC) Brian Deer Chinese Library (CLC/CCL) CODOC Colon (CC) Cutter Expansive Dewey Decimal (DDC) Harvard–Yenching Korean decimal (KDC) Library of Congress (LCC) New Classification Scheme for Chinese Libraries NLM Classification Nippon Decimal (NDC) Russian Library-Bibliographical Classification (BBK) Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) Swedish library system (SAB) Universal Decimal (UDC)
See also: Knowledge organization
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