Introduction of the Institute of Literature and its Literary Disciplines

China is a country of great literary tradition. It has 3,000 years of literary history inscribed in letters, possessing various ancient books and records which amount to several millions. Composed by 56 peoples, it also has abundant oral literature. There are more than 100 oral epics, among which Gheser in Tibet, Jangar in Inner-Mongolia and Manas in Kirgiz are called three great epics. The total length of Gheser has reached two million lines, greater than the total length of five epics in the world. There are over 2,000 kinds of collected books on ballads, legends and stories in the whole country. Up to now, the number of members in Chinese Writers' Association has come to 7,000. Every year about 20,000 types of books and 150 million copies of books are published. Over 600 long novels and 10,000 TV plays are produced. Literary research is unprecedentedly prosperous and colorful.

The Institute of Literature was set up in 1953. Under the leader¬ ship of the first director Zheng Zhentuo and his successor He Qifang, the Institute had gathered a group of distinguished scholars, including Yu Pingbo, Qian Zhongshu, Yu Guanying, Tang Tao, Wu Shichang, Sun Kaidi and so on. At that time, the Institute consisted of such branches of research as branch of ancient literature, modern and contemporary literature, folk literature, and literary theory. There was also a division of foreign literature. The Institute set up two authoritative bimonthly publications: Literary Review and Literary Heritage. From the 1950's, the Institute had been engaged in establishing its own library and reference room. According to the recollection of the people who were in charge of collecting and selling thread-binding ancient books, the Institute collected almost all of the best rare books they sold. Up to now, the books owned by the library has amounted to 500,000 copies. Based on literary research paper published on more than 100 kinds of Chinese news-

386