Biography of Liu Yu Part 2(16)

Liu Yu ordered the collection of scattered books, which protected the spread of culture. Since the Yongjia Rebellion of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Five Random Huas, most of the books and classics of the previous Han culture have been lost. Liu Yu's expedition to the north before the later Qin Dynasty, combined with the collection of the government, the collection of books in the Eastern Jin Dynasty at that time was only 4000 volumes. In the course of his northern expedition, Liu Yu collected all the books scattered in the Central Plains and sent them back to Jiankang. He also ordered the collection of ancient books with red axis and green paper and characters to be passed on to later generations. By the early years of the Liu Song Dynasty, the official collection of books had reached more than 60,000 volumes. It made a great contribution to the protection and inheritance of Han cultural classics and books, and also laid the foundation for the collection of books in the Southern Dynasty and Song Dynasty.[8]