TheColumbia University copy of theComplete Classics Collection of Ancient China, rebound in a Western style by Professor Frederick Hirth for ease of handling
TheComplete Classics Collection of Ancient China (or theGujin Tushu Jicheng) is a vastencyclopedic work written in China during the reigns of theQing dynasty emperorsKangxi andYongzheng. It was begun in 1700 and completed in 1725. The work was headed and compiled mainly by scholarChen Menglei (陳夢雷). Later on the Chinese painterJiang Tingxi helped work on it as well.
The encyclopaedia contained 10,000 volumes. Sixty-four imprints were made of the first edition, known as the Wu-ying Hall edition. The encyclopaedia consisted of 6 series, 32 divisions, and 6,117 sections.[1] It contained 800,000 pages and over 100 millionChinese characters,[2] making it the largestleishu ever printed. Topics covered included natural phenomena,geography,history,literature andgovernment. The work was printed in 1726 using coppermovable type printing. It spanned around 10 thousand rolls (卷). To illustrate the huge size of theComplete Classics Collection of Ancient China, it is estimated to have contained 3 to 4 times the amount of material in theEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.[3]
Illustration of mountains and rivers in Volume 52 of theComplete Classics Collection of Ancient China (3rd year of Yongzheng, Qing dynasty, 1725, Chen Menglei)
TheKangxi Emperor hiredChen Menglei ofFuzhou to compile the encyclopedia. From 1700 to 1705, Chen Menglei worked day and night, writing most of the book, including 10,000 volumes and around 160 million words. It was originally titled theCompendium or Tushu Huibian (图书汇编). By 1706 the book's first draft was completed, and the Kangxi emperor changed the title toComplete Classics Collection of Ancient China (Gujin Tushu Jicheng). When the Yongzheng emperor ascended the throne, he ordered Jiang Tingxi to help Chen Menglei finish the encyclopedia for publication by around 1725.[6]
Heavens/Time/Calendrics (历象): Celestial objects, the seasons, calendar mathematics and astronomy, heavenly portents
Earth/Geography (方舆): Mineralogy, political geography, list of rivers and mountains, other nations (Korea, Japan, India,Kingdom of Khotan,Ryukyu Kingdom)
Man/Society (明论): Imperial attributes and annals, the imperial household, biographies of mandarins, kinship and relations, social intercourse, dictionary of surnames, human relations, biographies of women
Nature (博物): Procivilities (crafts, divination, games, medicine), spirits and unearthly beings, fauna, flora (all life forms on Earth)
Philosophy (理学): Classics of non-fiction, aspects of philosophy (numerology, filial piety, shame, etc.), forms of writing, philology and literary studies
Economy (经济): education andimperial examination, maintenance of the civil service, food and commerce, etiquette and ceremony, music, the military system, the judicial system, styles of craft and architecture
The six series in total are subdivided into 32 subdivisions.
Note that a pre-modern sense is intended in both "society" (that is, high society) and "economy" (which could be called "society" today), and the other major divisions do not match precisely to English terms.
Kingdom of women (女人國), recorded in travels during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, possibly referring to some part ofAustralia. It is mentioned in theHistory of Yuan and was described by the Yuan dynasty travelerWang Dayuan.
^Allen, Tony; Grant, R. G.; Parker, Philip; Celtel, Kay; Kramer, Ann; Weeks, Marcus (June 2022).Timelines of World History (First American ed.). New York:DK. p. 176.ISBN978-0-7440-5627-3.
^Fowler, Robert L. (1997), "Encyclopaedias: Definitions and Theoretical Problems", in P. Binkley,Pre-Modern Encyclopaedic Texts, Brill, p. 9; citing Diény, Jean-Pierre (1991), "Les encyclopédies chinoises," inActes du colloque de Caen 12–16 janvier 1987, Paris, p. 198.
^Wilkinson, Endymion Porter; Wilkinson, Scholar and Diplomat (Eu Ambassador to China 1994–2001) Endymion (2000).Chinese History: A Manual. Harvard Univ Asia Center. p. 605.ISBN978-0-674-00249-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
