Under the direction of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, China-CEEC Libraries Union was established in October 2018 in Hangzhou, China, with its secretariat permanently set in Hangzhou Public Library. More than 60 libraries from China and CEEC, on a voluntary basis, seek common progress made on the principle of "equality, mutual benefit, inclusiveness and openness". 

The Very Collection in My Library aims to introduce treasures kept in each member library to audience in China and Central and Eastern European countries and bring ancient books into the limelight, through of which people could enhance their understanding of cultures and histories of other countries.

This episode here is presented by Mrs. Dusica Grbic, the vice director of Matica Srpska Library in Serbia, introducing you one of the copies of the Code of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dusan.

(The Very Collection in My Library is updated on Cooperation between China and CEEC official website http://www.china-ceec.org/ and CHINA CULTURE.org https://cn.chinaculture.org/.)

Stefan Dušan was the Serbian ruler from 1331 to 1355. The Code of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan, together with the Code of Saint Sava from the 13th century, represents the most important law of Serbia in the Middle Ages. 

Dusan's Code was first promulgated in 1349 and had 135 articles, the second part was promulgated in 1354 with additional 66 articles. The original was not preserved there are only copies. There are 26 known copies 5 of which are in the Matica Srpska Library dated to the 18th century. 

One of them is Tekelija's manuscript named after its owners a noble Tekelija family from Arad in today's Romania. In Matica Srpska Library Tekelija's manuscript arrived in 1843 with the donated library of Sava Tekelija the first Serbian doctor of law, the first Matica Srpska president and great Serbian benefactor.

Tekelija's manuscript consists of the Code of Constantine Justinian, Byzantine emperor from the 6th century AD (leaves 1b–13b), and the Code of Tsar Stefan Dušan (leaves 13b–25b). It contains 25 leaves bound in cardboard covers lined with ornamented leather which was restored most likely in the 19th century. As it can be seen it is tied with leather ribbons. According to the paper watermarks, the manuscript is dated between 1710 and 1720. However, according to the note seen on this leaf, it can be concluded that it is from 1711. Palaeographic research has shown that the scribe of the book was Veljko Popovic. The manuscript is written in Cyrillic script in cursive writing using Resava orthography, Serbian Slavonic and vernacular language. The decoration contains a miniature on which is represented Serbian king Stefan Decanski and at the beginning of the book there is a banner. Both decorative elements are separately drawn and glued to the leaves. 

Tekelija's manuscript was first published in 1795 in the fourth volume of Jovan Rajic's history. This edition was translated into German (1801), French (1840), and Russian (1865).