​To solidify Peking University as one of the world’s top universities, support the long-term development of the PKU Library, and to realize the goal of building a world-class, integrated, innovative, intelligent, benchmark university library, we endeavor to establish the Foundation of the Peking University Library, to help the library in purchasing rare resources and improving services provided to students, faculty and alumni.

Background: The year 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the PKU Class of 1987’s graduation. To give back to their alma mater, the PKU Alumni Association and the Class of 1987 initiated a donation campaign. On September 9, 2021, the PKU Library 1987 Alumni Donation Project was officially established during a meeting held by the Fund Management Committee. The project aims to support the PKU Library’s work related to resources and services, including: (1) the collection, sorting and digitization of ancient scripts, special collections and other valuable documents; (2) the purchase of materials and equipment for document preservation and restoration; (3) the library’s cultural construction, exhibition and display of library documents; (4) academic conferences related to library resources and services.

The PKU Library holds around 2,200 types of genealogies, of which 160 are categorized as rare books. Amongst the 600 kinds of genealogies listed in the “Chinese Ancient Rare Books Bibliography”, 58 are currently archived in PKU, amongst which 49 are lone copies, for example Qinghua ushi zupu (《清华胡氏族谱》) from the Ming era, Shishi zupu (《石氏宗谱》) and Changbai guoshi zupu (《长白郭氏家谱》) from the Qing era. The PKU Library collection of genealogy books cover more than 200 surnames, and are of varying sub-categories, which include family registers of the royal family. The genealogies also originate from different geographical area, including provinces and cities such as Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Tianjin and more, in addition to 68 genealogies from Joseon. The genealogies of well-known modern figures, such as Mao Zedong, Yang Kaihui, Liu Shaoqi, Zhang Guotao, Hu Shi and more, are also archived in the PKU Library. PKU Library intends to select and photocopy 1,000 genealogies from its collection for publication. It is believed that the publication of this batch of genealogies will be a valuable reference material for the public.