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TheYongle Encyclopedia (English:/jɒŋlə/) orYongle Dadian (traditional Chinese:永樂大典;simplified Chinese:永乐大典;pinyin:Yǒnglè dàdiǎn;Wade–Giles:Yung-lo Ta-tien;lit. 'Great Canon of Yongle') is a Chineseleishu encyclopedia commissioned by theYongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) of theMing dynasty in 1403 and completed by 1408. It comprised 22,937manuscript rolls in 11,095 volumes.[1] Fewer than 400 volumes survive today,[2] comprising about 800 rolls, or 3.5% of the original work.[3]
Most of the text was lost during the latter half of the 19th century, in the midst of events including theSecond Opium War and theBoxer Rebellion. Its sheer scope and size made it the world's largest general encyclopedia, until it was surpassed byWikipedia in late 2007, nearly six centuries later.[4][5]
Although known for his military achievements, theYongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) was an intellectual who enjoyed reading.[6] His love for research led him to develop the idea of categorizing literary works into a referenceencyclopedia to preserve rare books and simplify research.[7][8] Instrumental to this undertaking were the Yongle Emperor's own changes to the function of theHanlin Academy.[7]
Prior to his reign, the Hanlin Academy was responsible for various clerical tasks such as drafting proclamations and edicts.[7] The Yongle Emperor decided to elevate the status of the Hanlin Academy and began selecting only the highest-ranking recruits for the academy.[6] Clerical duties were relegated to Imperial officers, whereas the Hanlin Academy, now full of elite scholars, began to work on literary projects for the Emperor.[6]
TheYongle Encyclopedia was commissioned by the Yongle Emperor and completed in 1408. In 1404, a year after the work was commissioned, a team of 100 scholars, mostly from the Hanlin Academy, completed a manuscript calledA Complete Work of Literature.[7] The Yongle Emperor rejected this work and insisted on adding other volumes.[7]
In 1405, under the Yongle Emperor's command, the number of scholars rose to 2,169. Scholars were sent all over China to find books and expand theencyclopedia.[7] The Yongle Emperor assigned his personal advisor, Dao Yan, a monk, and Liu Jichi, the deputy minister of punishment, as co-editors of the encyclopedia, supportingYao Guangxiao.[8] The scholars spent four years compiling theleishu encyclopedia, under the leadership of general editorYao Guangxiao.[9][2]
The encyclopedia was completed in 1408[1] at theGuozijian inNanjing (nowNanjing University). It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls[1] or chapters, in 11,095 volumes, occupying roughly 40 cubic metres (1,400 cu ft), and using 370 millionChinese characters[2][10]—the equivalent of about a quarter of a billion English words (around six times as many as theEncyclopædia Britannica).[8]
Theleishu was intended to include every commentary that had been written on theChinese classics, as well as all history, philosophy, arts, and sciences. It was a massive collation of excerpts and works from the entirety of Chinese literature and knowledge. The Yongle Emperor was so pleased with the finished encyclopedia that he named it after his reign, and personally wrote a lengthy preface highlighting the importance of preserving the works.[8]
The encyclopedia's physical appearance differed from any other Chinese encyclopedias of the time.[11] It was larger in size, used special paper, and was bound in a "wrapped back" (包背裝,bao bei zhuang) style.[12] The use of red ink for titles and authors, an ink exclusively reserved for the emperor, helped to confirm that the volumes were of royal production.[11]
Each volume was protected by a hard cover which was wrapped in yellow silk.[12] Unlike other encyclopedias, it was not arranged by subject, but by洪武正韻 (Hongwu zhengyun), a system by which characters are orderedphonetically or rhythmically.[12] The use of this system helped the reader find specific entries with ease.[12]
Although printing already existed during theMing dynasty, theYongle Encyclopedia was exclusively handwritten.[12] Each handwritten entry was a collection of existing literature, some of which derived from rare and delicate texts.[12] The importance of theYongle Encyclopedia was the preservation of such texts, and the vast number of subjects it covered.[12]
At the end of the Ming, scholars began to question the Yongle Emperor's motives for not commissioning more copies of the encyclopedia, instead of keeping them in storage.[8] Some scholars, likeSun Chengze, a Qing scholar, theorized that the Yongle Emperor used the literary project for political reasons.[8] At the time,Neo-Confucians were refusing to take civil service exams, or participate in any imperial duties, due to the Yongle Emperor'sviolent usurpation of the throne.[8] The Yongle Emperor's literary undertaking did attract the attention of these scholars, who eventually joined the project.[8]
Because the Yongle Emperor did not want a strictlyConfucian point of view for the encyclopedia, non-Confucian scholars were also included, and contributed to the Buddhist, Daoist, and Divination sections of the encyclopedia.[8] The inclusion of these subjects intensified the scrutiny against the Yongle Emperor amongst Neo-Confucians who believed the encyclopedia was nothing but "wheat andchaff".[8] However, despite the varied opinions, the encyclopedia is widely regarded as a priceless contribution in preserving a wide range of China's historic works, many of which would be lost otherwise.
TheYongle Dadian was placed inWenyuan Ge (文淵閣) in Nanjing until 1421, when the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing and placed the Yongle Dadian in theForbidden City.[6] In 1557, during the reign of theJiajing Emperor, the encyclopedia was narrowly saved from a fire that burnt down three palaces in the Forbidden City. A manuscript copy was commissioned by Jiajing Emperor in 1562 and completed in 1567.[9] The original copy was lost afterwards. The theories as to what happened to the original are:
The original manuscript of theYongle Dadian was almost completely lost by the end of the Ming dynasty.[9] 90 percent of the 1567 manuscript survived until theSecond Opium War during theQing dynasty. In 1860, theAnglo-French invasion of Beijing resulted in the majority of the encyclopedia being burnt or looted, with British and French soldiers taking large portions of the manuscript assouvenirs.[3][9]
5,000 volumes remained by 1875, less than half of the original, which dwindled to 800 by 1894. During theBoxer Rebellion and the 1900Eight-Nation Allianceoccupation of Beijing, allied soldiers took hundreds of volumes, and many were destroyed in the Hanlin Academy fire. Only 60 volumes remained in Beijing.[9]
The most complete collection is kept at theNational Library of China in Beijing, which holds 221 volumes.[2] The next largest collection is at theNational Palace Museum inTaipei, which holds 62 volumes.[14]
Sections 10,270 and 10,271 of theYongle Encyclopedia reside at theHuntington Library in San Marino, California.[5][15]
51 volumes are in the United Kingdom held at theBritish Library, theBodleian Library inOxford, theSchool of Oriental and African Studies of theUniversity of London, andCambridge University Library; theLibrary of Congress of the United States holds 41 volumes;[16]Cornell University Library has 6 volumes; 5 volumes are held in various libraries across Germany.[17][18]
Two volumes were sold at a Paris auction on 7 July 2020, for more than €8 million (US$9 million).[19]
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Encyclopædia Britannica
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