Keeping a diary as a way for people to record their lives, cultivate themselves, and reflect on themselves has a long history. As its material carrier, the form of the diary has also undergone changes. In modern times, the diary, a seemingly private medium of record, has quietly undergone changes in both form and function - gradually evolving from the traditional "moral examination book" for scholars to cultivate themselves, to the "encyclopedia manual" that carries new knowledge and common sense of life. This transformation not only reflects the progress of printing technology and commercial publishing, but also carries the process of modern Chinese people accepting new knowledge and shaping themselves. The diary of Confucian scholars with a predetermined format for self-cultivation appeared in the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, closely related to the rise of Neo Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties. The "Diary Style" created by Huang Gan, a disciple of Zhu Xi, consists of sixteen lines per day, divided into seven columns: "Year," "Heavenly Fortune," "Dwelling," "Starting and Ending of Reading," "Entering and Exiting Actions," "Good Words and Actions," and "Guests and Friends. The diary of Zeng Guofan in the first year of Xianfeng (1851) has eight columns daily, including "reading", "sitting quietly", "writing", "writing", "working", "studying", "responding to guests", and "replying to letters", which are also written in pre printed grids, revealing the traditional format of diary books. The function of this type of diary is to record daily words and deeds, as well as the gains from reading, in order to help scholars cultivate themselves. As the saying goes, "The effort is only continuous and uninterrupted, not in speed. If it can be uninterrupted, then although the amount read in a day is not much, it will accumulate over time and naturally be sufficient" (from the Qing Dynasty scholar Lu Longqi's "Shi Da Er Ding Hao"). In the process of achieving "new knowledge" through "warming up the past", both personal cultivation and knowledge are cultivated, which also shows the connection between the diary as a carrier and knowledge. The diary created by Neo Confucian scholars has been widely used in academy education since the Song and Ming dynasties, and keeping a diary has become an important part of students' daily classes. By the late Qing Dynasty, new-style education had become popular, but diary books with predetermined formats still survived. As recorded by Gan Pengyun in 1893 in his "Linghu Diary," his daily study schedule was divided into five subjects: "reading," "saving," "serving," "taking care of people," and "managing affairs." The emergence of the "managing affairs" subject reflected the continuation of the self-cultivation and self-cultivation style of the diary, which began to incorporate new knowledge from modern times. At the end of the 19th century, a more modern standardized diary began to appear in the market. This type of diary adopts Western style binding, resonating with the printing and publishing revolution of the late Qing Dynasty. In terms of form, in addition to retaining some entries of the traditional academy diary format, brief common sense knowledge and life information are printed in the blank space on each page. The sales information of such diaries is often introduced in the same column as new publications in newspapers, indicating that in the consciousness of the people at that time, they were also publications that carried information and transmitted knowledge. The emergence of such diaries should be inspired and influenced by Japan. During the Meiji and Taisho periods, large Japanese publishing institutions such as Hirobumi and Kin'gongtang successively launched various types of diary books, including "In Use Diaries," "In My Pocket Diaries," "Student Diaries," and "Family Diaries," which were popular for a while. Hirobumi also launched more localized versions of "In Use Diaries" for North Korea and other places. This type of diary records daily actions in columns, accompanied by practical information such as monthly calendar, laws, postal services, etc. It is like an encyclopedia of personal life and national knowledge. Students studying in Japan during the late Qing Dynasty were a major user group for this type of diary. During Huang Zunsan's study abroad period, he would purchase at the beginning of each year. On New Year's Day in 1907, he wrote down: "Starting at eight o'clock, I went to the bookstore to buy a standard diary, also known as the Meiji Diary. The diary had blank spaces above and below, containing quotes from great figures in English and Japanese, which were beneficial for personal cultivation. I planned to translate and record one or two of them every day after class as a help for cultivation." On New Year's Day in 1911, after breakfast, he "went outside to buy a cultivation diary compiled by Kato Choutang," believing that "the important parts of the diary included daily life, internal life, reading, and various social affairs, and the rest were to be imitated and recorded. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this type of diary began to be introduced into China, with the Commercial Press being the most important promoter. The "Pocket Diary" sold by the Commercial Press in 1904, which included "records of dates, solar terms, birthdays, anniversaries, Western calendar worship dates, birthdays of monarchs and empresses of various countries, customs and bank holidays", as well as "lists of friends' names, correspondence lists, telegraph and postal regulations and prices", shows that the daily diary has become an important source for the public to obtain life information ("Pocket Diary of Dingwei in the 33rd year of Guangxu", "Declaration", December 26, 1906). The later release of the "Guangxu Wushen School Diary" vividly showcased the color of the diary's transmission of new knowledge ("Latest Publication of Shanghai Commercial Press", "Shen Bao", January 12, 1908): it was used by the members of the book preparation school to practice recording literary genres and study general academic research. In addition to diary paper, searching for over a hundred essential forms in various subjects not only allows for inspection but also provides insights into the paths of each subject. Among them, tables such as ethics, history, geography, flora and fauna, minerals, physiology, etc. are the latest, most prepared, and convenient. For example, calendars, calculation tables, as well as mathematics and physics, are new works that have not been published in various books, either painstakingly collected or creatively created. They are different from those that copied old books... Moreover, famous people's poems are attached to diary paper, which is particularly interesting. Afterwards, the diary published by the Commercial Press was continuously updated. The "School Diary" sold in 1919 not only includes seasonal information such as the "Solar Terms and Weeks Table", "Yin Yang Calendar Reference Table", and "Five Thousand Year Week Inspection Table", but also includes content related to school life such as "Regulations for Selecting and Studying Foreign Students", "Experimental Grades Table", and "Book Catalog". It also includes daily encyclopedias such as "Postal Deposit Table", "Health Law", and "Parenting Law". The "First Aid Law" also provides detailed solutions for various accidents such as "electric injury", "fire hazard", and gas poisoning. It can be said that during the Republican era, this type of diary became more prominent as an "encyclopedia manual". This type of new-style diary entered the market and quickly gained the favor of scholars and students. On March 18, 1906, Hu Shi's diary recorded a visit to Qipan Street to purchase books ("Autonomous Diary" and "Hua Ying Student Dialogue"). The editor of his "Chengzhong Diary" pointed out that "at that time, he used a special diary book sold in bookstores". "This diary book had one page per day, with columns for" learning "and" recording "on each page. The size was fixed, and any text beyond the columns could only be written in the" supplement "at the end of the volume. In Xu Zhimo's diary on February 19, 1911, there was also a record of "buying the 'School Diary' from the Qinghefang Commercial Press at night and keeping one miscellaneous notebook each". The various diary books sold by the Commercial Press, a popular encyclopedia for readers, have become a must-have for many readers' desks. The existing Yan Fu Diary is written in a pocket sized notebook printed by the Commercial Press, with a width of seven centimeters horizontally and a height of about fourteen centimeters vertically. A horizontal line is printed in the center of each side, dividing the upper and lower columns into two days. Wang Rongbao also used the "School Diary" and "Official Business General Diary" from the Commercial Press, which were "very fashionable 32 page hardcover diaries at that time. In addition to each page marked with the lunar calendar, day, and week, there were also columns for courses, famous quotes, communication, and correspondence. Gu Jiegang's 1913 "Liyun Diary" also used the Commercial Press's "Freedom Diary", and Zhao Yuanren had also used the Commercial Press's "Pocket Diary". The celebrity poems and quotes attached to each page of the diary have become resources for students to learn new knowledge and cultivate their character. Huang Zunsan particularly likes to copy and translate the Western maxims left in the blank space of these diary pages, such as "Life progresses, not by leaps and bounds, we should satisfy the temporary progress step by step" (February 15, 1907); A tall building must have a deep foundation. Without diligence, one cannot be refined. "(April 23, 1907), and so on. In his view, these maxims not only benefit my body and mind more "(February 1, 1908), but also serve as an aid for learning English and Japanese. Yun Daiying attached great importance to the role of maxims, believing that they were "enough to purify the body and mind, and cannot be falsely accused" ("Editorial Room Talks", Guanghua Journal, Issue 3, 1917). He insisted on recording maxims in his diary every day (May 2, 1918), and even made up for missed days (May 28). This year, Yun Daiying searched and recorded dozens of unique and self appropriate sayings in the blank space above her diary. He takes these maxims as his motto and uses them to cultivate his character. Qu Xuanying reflected in her diary on March 29, 1917, saying, "When I read the maxims recorded at the top of this diary, I don't need to look at their names, but at a glance, I can distinguish them as various scholars, quotes from the Song and Ming dynasties, and theories of Western philosophy. This is not a natural field, but rather the trend of writing." The maxims recorded in the diary also provided inspiration for him to study Chinese and Western literature. Diaries not only meet the needs of the public to acquire new knowledge or life information, but also become an important carrier for users to collect and record knowledge, and a witness to turning knowledge into practical life. Yun Daiying paid special attention to modern hygiene knowledge. He specially created a column in his diary called "Family Medicine," which recorded the methods of observation, hearing, questioning, and cutting, "and also included some daily pharmacological knowledge (February 9, 1917). In the following days, he continued to transcribe hygiene knowledge in his diary, or related to dormitory cleaning, such as "In terms of hygiene, anything that occupies a large area must be able to move freely for cleaning", and suggested waking up one or two hours a day specifically for cleaning (February 21); If it is related to daily maintenance, it is recommended not to use soap during bathing. "Rubbing and removing dirt with your hands is a massage benefit that can be enjoyed during bathing," and it can also avoid impurities in soap damaging the skin. As a result, Yun Daiying developed his own set of health and wellness methods. As he advocates for cold water baths, claiming that they are beneficial for fitness, "Hot water baths are used to remove dirt from the body and outside. If it is a warm water bath, dirt removal cannot reach the body, and fitness is not like cold water baths" (March 2). He also had a fondness for the Eight Section Brocade. In the organizational plan he formulated for the mutual aid society, the top priority was to practice the Eight Section Brocade daily. "Every week from 8 to 10 o'clock, one must be present to study. Every morning, one must practice on their own, and all students in school practice according to the contract," thus revolutionizing the laziness of the members (November 27, 1916). He also recorded the process of practicing the Eight Section Brocade multiple times in his diary as a means of self-monitoring and self-cultivation. The modern diary has undergone a transformation from a record book of "respecting and neglecting good and evil" by Neo Confucian scholars to a "encyclopedia of life" on the desks of scholars and students. As stated in the advertisement of the Commercial Press, the modern diary "collects the most useful contents among ordinary sciences" (Shen Bao, December 22, 1910), which not only continues the traditional scholar's ideal of self-cultivation, but also integrates the pursuit of shaping modern citizens. Between the square grids, it witnesses the interweaving of old and new in the times. (New Society)