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Guangdong Tushuguan Xuehui Sishi Nian (The Guangdong Library Association: 40 Years). Edited by Cheng Huanwen (chief editor). Guangzhou: Zhongshan University Press, 2003. 825 pp. 80 yuan. ISBN 7-306-02188-5.
China's rapid economic development and progress have masked the tortuous developmental road experienced before the introduction of the "opening and reform" policies in the early 1980s. Earlier institution building and reforms at all levels and sectors encountered many false starts or were abandoned; this was especially evident during the Cultural Revolution. Institution rebuilding has thus become a major task in China's march toward modernity.
The history of China's library development since 1949 and the rebuilding of the system since the 1980s constitute a case study of the arduous task of institution building. Edited by Cheng Huanwen, university librarian at Zhongshan University, and associates, The Guangdong Library Association: 40 Years is a microstudy at the...