The Chinese Library Classification (CLC; Chinese: 中国图书馆分类法), also known as Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL), 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. (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.
The 22 top categories and selected sub-categories of CLC (5th Edition) are as follows:
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 & Deng Xiaoping Theory
B. Philosophy and Religions
B-4 Education and dissemination of philosophy
B-49 Learners' book und 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, Sermon
B976 Christian Denomination
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
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
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
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, 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
H109 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 Dictionary
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.)
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
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
K0 Historical Theory
K1 History of the World
K2 History of China
K3 History of Asia
K4 History of Africa
K5 History of Europe
K6 History of Australasia
K7 History of America
K8 Biography, Archaeology
K9 Geography
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
O1 Mathematics
O2 Applied Mathematics
O3 Mechanics
O4 Physics
O6 Chemistry
O7 Crystallography
P. Astronomy and Geoscience
P1 Astronomy
P2 Geodesy
P3 Geophysics
P4 Meteorology
P5 Geology
P6 Mineralogy
P7 Oceanography
P9 Physiography
Q1 General Biology
Q2 Cytology
Q3 Genetics
Q4 Physiology
Q5 Biochemistry
Q6 Biophysics
Q7 Molecular Biology
Q8 Bioengineering
Q9 Zoology and Botany
R. Medicine and Health Sciences
R1 Preventive Medicine, Public health
R2 Traditional Chinese Medicine
R3 Human anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Microbiology, Parasitology
R4 Clinical Medicine
R5 Internal medicine
R6 Surgery
R7 Medical Specialties
R71 Obstetrics, Gynecology
R72 Pediatrics
R73 Oncology
R74 Neurology, Psychiatry
R75 Dermatology, Venereology
R76 Otolaryngology
R77 Ophthalmology
R78 Dentistry
R79 Non-Chinese Traditional Medicine
R8 Radiology, Sport medicine, Diving medicine, Aerospace medicine
R9 Pharmacology, Pharmacy
S1 Fundamental Agricultural Science
S2 Agricultural Engineering
S3 Agronomy
S4 Phytopathology
S5 Individual Crops
S6 Horticulture
S7 Forestry
S8 Animal Husbandry, Veterinary medicine, Hunting, Sericulture, Apiculture
S9 Aquaculture, Fishery
TB General Industrial Technology
TD Mining Engineering
TE Petroleum, Natural Gas
TF Extractive metallurgy, Smelting
TG Metallurgy, Metalworking
TH Machinery, Instrumentation
TJ Military Technology
TK Power Plant
TL Nuclear technology
TM Electrical Engineering
TN Electronic Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering
TP Automation, Computer Engineering
TQ Chemical Engineering
TS Light Industry, Handicraft
TU Construction Engineering
TV Water Resources, Hydraulic Engineering
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)
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
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 Encyclopedia and Chinese Encyclopedia (Leishu)
Z22 Chinese Encyclopedia
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 book
Z228.2 Popular Youth Book
Z228.3 Elders' book
Z228.4 Women's reader
Z228.5 Men's reader
Z23 Encyclopedia of Asia
Z24 Encyclopedia of Africa
Z25 Encyclopedia of Europe
Z26 Encyclopedia of Oceania
Z27 Encyclopedia of America
Z28 Encyclopedia of a particular field
Z3 Dictionary
Z4 Symposium, Anthologies, Selected Works, Essay
Z5 Almanac
Z6 Serial, Periodicals
Z8 Catalogue, Abstract, Index
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, 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)
