Two national classification systems – of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to provide general background information about two national classification systems (CS), about which there have been practically no publications in Russian professional literature. The author gives the definition of national CS, adopted by the International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO) and talks about the typology categories of CS. The first part considers the Library Classification of the People's Republic of China (CLC). The history of its creation, the available variants and publications are sequentially analized. The distribution boundaries of CLC are shown, its structure and features are considered. CLC is a completely original system created by Chinese experts. The second part of the article analyzes the Decimal Classification of the Republic of Korea (KDC). Widespread in the world of DDC schedules were taken as the basis of the KDC many years ago. Some of the main classes were used unchanged, while others were completely rearranged so that Korea and Korean language were in the first places in the schedules. Similar changes were made to the religion class. KDC has only one option (the last 6th edition is in 3 volumes). It is considered national, but not used in all scientific libraries in South Korea. Knowledge of the classification practices of foreign countries is an indisputable indicator of our classification culture.