Overview of the Chinese encyclopedia culture
Chinese encyclopedias
comprise both
Chinese language
encyclopedias
and foreign language ones about
China
or
Chinese topics
. There is a type of native Chinese
reference work
called
leishu
(lit. "categorized writings") that is sometimes translated as "encyclopedia", but although these collections of quotations from classic texts are expansively "encyclopedic", a
leishu
is more accurately described as a "
compendium
" or "
anthology
". The long history of Chinese encyclopedias began with the (222 CE)
Huanglan
("Emperor's Mirror")
leishu
and continues with
online encyclopedias
such as the
Baike Encyclopedia
.
Terminology
[
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]
The
Chinese language
has several translation equivalents for the English word
encyclopedia
.
Di?n
典
"standard; ceremony; canon; allusion; dictionary; encyclopedia" occurs in
compounds
such as
zidi?n
字典
"character dictionary; lexicon",
cidi?n
辭典
"word/phrase dictionary; encyclopedia",
dadi?n
大典
"collection of great classics; big dictionary"; and titles such as the 801
Tongdian
("Comprehensive Encyclopedia") and 1408
Yongle Dadian
("
Yongle Emperor
's Encyclopedia").
Leish?
類書
(lit. "category book") "reference work arranged by category; encyclopedia" is commonly translated as "traditional Chinese encyclopedia", but they differ from modern encyclopedias in that they are compendia composed of selected and categorically arranged quotations from
Chinese classics
, "the name encyclopedia having been applied to them because they embrace the whole realm of knowledge" (Teng and Biggerstaff 1971: 83).
B?ik?
百科
(lit. "hundred subjects") in the words
b?ik?quansh?
百科全書
(with "comprehensive book") and
b?ik?cidi?n
百科辭典
(with "dictionary") specifically refer to Western-style "encyclopedias". Encyclopedia titles first used
B?ik?quansh?
in the final decades of the 19th century.
[1]
History
[
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]
Encyclopedic
leishu
anthologies were published in China for nearly two millennia before the first modern encyclopedia, the English-language 1917
Encyclopaedia Sinica
.
While English usually differentiates between
dictionary
and
encyclopedia
, Chinese does not necessarily make the distinction. For instance, the ancient
Erya
, which lists synonyms
collated
by
semantic fields
, is described as a dictionary, a thesaurus, and an encyclopedia. The German sinologist Wolfgang Bauer describes the historical parallel between Western encyclopedias and Chinese
leishu
, all of which arose from two roots, glossaries and anthologies or
florilegia
.
The boundaries between both are quite fluid at first; the shorter the entries and the more exclusively they are directed to the definition of the word concerned, the more the work partakes of the character of a dictionary, while a longer commentary delving into history and culture and provided with extensive quotations of sources is, conversely, more characteristic of the encyclopaedia. The dividing line between a language lexicon (such as glossaries, onomastica and rhyming dictionaries) and a factual lexicon, to which all general and special encyclopaedias belong, is only clearly drawn when, in addition to the definitions, necessarily supported by literary references, an
interpretation
appears which takes into consideration not only the current literary usage but also the thing itself, which not only describes the subject but also, at times, evaluates and thereby forms a true connection between the new and the old. The very characteristic of the traditional Chinese encyclopaedia as in contrast to that in the West is that these distinctions were
never
clearly drawn. All Chinese encyclopaedias are anthologies, upon which were grafted greatly varying forms of dictionary arrangement. They consist of (generally quite long) quotations arranged in one order or another and, although they may include an opinion on the subject, they rarely contain an original opinion.
[2]
Robert L. Fowler, Professor of Greek at the
University of Bristol
, says that although comprehensiveness is a primary criterion in defining an "encyclopedia", there are encyclopedias of individual subjects (e.g.,
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
) that defy the etymology from
Greek
enkyklios paideia
"the circle of subjects". He says, "To call a comprehensive treatment of one subject an "encyclopaedia" is a catachresis known already in medieval China, where the term
leishu
, properly a collection of classical texts on many fields, came to be applied to similar treatments of one subject only, for instance the use of jade".
[3]
Imperial period
[
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]
Chinese
scholar-bureaucrats
compiled about 600 leishu traditional Chinese "encyclopedias" between the 3rd and 18th centuries. About 200 of these are extant today, and 10-20 are still used by historians.
[4]
Most were published by imperial mandate during the
Tang dynasty
(618-907),
Song dynasty
(960-1279),
Ming dynasty
(1368-1644), and early
Qing dynasty
(1644-1911). Some
leishu
were huge publications. For instance, the (1726)
Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China
contained an estimated 3 to 4 times the amount of material in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
.
[5]
Although most scholars consider the 222 CE
Huanglan
(see below) to be the first Chinese
leishu
encyclopedia.
[6]
Needham
,
Lu
, and Huang call the late 4th to early 2nd centuries BCE
Erya
the oldest Chinese encyclopedia, and consider its derivative literature (beginning with the
Fangyan
and
Huanglan
) as the main line of descent for encyclopedias in China.
[7]
The c. 239 BCE
Lushi Chunqiu
, which is an anthology of quotes from many
Hundred Schools of Thought
philosophical texts, is another text sometimes characterized as the first Chinese "encyclopedia". Although its content is "encyclopedic", the text was compiled to show rulers and ministers how to govern well, and was not intended to be a comprehensive summary of knowledge.
[8]
During the
Han dynasty
, the 2nd century BCE
Shiben
("Book of Origins") was the earliest Chinese dictionary / encyclopedia of origins. It explained imperial
genealogies
, the
origins of surnames
, and records of legendary and historical inventors. Among subsequent encyclopedias of origins, the largest was Chen Yuanlong's 1735
Gezhi Jingyuan
(格致鏡元,
Mirror of Scientific and Technological Origins
).
Shortly after the fall of the Han dynasty, the first true Chinese
leishu
encyclopedia appeared. The 222
Huanglan
("Imperial Mirror"), which is now a
lost work
, was compiled for
Cao Pi
, the first emperor of the
Three Kingdoms
Cao Wei
state (r. 220-226), in order to provide rulers and ministers with conveniently arranged summaries of current knowledge (like the
Lushi Chunqiu
above).
An important new type of
leishu
encyclopedia appeared in the early
Tang dynasty
(618?907), after the administration made the
imperial examination
obligatory for all applicants into government service. Unlike earlier Chinese encyclopedias (such as the
Huanglan
) that were intended to provide information for rulers and government officials, these new anthologies were intended for scholars who were trying to enter into government, and provided general information, and especially literary knowledge about the classics.
[9]
For instance, the famous calligrapher
Ouyang Xun
supervised compilation of the 624
Yiwen Leiju
("Collection of Literature Arranged by Categories") encyclopedia of literature, which quotes 1,431 diverse literary texts. Specialized encyclopedias were another innovation during the Tang period. The 668
Fayuan Zhulin
("Forest of Gems in the Garden of the
Dharma
") was a
Chinese Buddhist
encyclopedia compiled by the monk Dao Shi 道世. The 729
Kaiyuan Zhanjing
("Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era") is a
Chinese astrology
encyclopedia compiled by
Gautama Siddha
and others during
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
's
Kaiyuan era
(713-741).
The Golden Age of encyclopedia writing began with the
Song dynasty
(960?1279), "when the venerated past became the general standard in Chinese thought for almost one whole millennium".
[10]
The
Four Great Books of Song
were compiled by a committee of scholars under the supervision of
Li Fang
. First, the 978
Taiping Guangji
("Extensive Records of the Taiping Era") was a collection of about 7,000 stories selected from over 300 classic texts from the Han to the Song dynasties. Second, the 983
Taiping Yulan
("Imperial Reader of the Taiping Era") anthologized citations from 2,579 different texts, ranging from poetry, proverbs, and
steles
to miscellaneous works. Third, the 985
Wenyuan Yinghua
("Finest Blossoms in the Garden of Literature"), quotes from many literary genres, dating from the
Liang dynasty
to the
Five Dynasties era
. Fourth, the
Cefu Yuangui
("Models from the Archives"), was the largest Song encyclopedia, almost twice the size of the
Taiping Yulan
. Li Fang began compilation in 1005 while
Wang Qinruo
and others finished in 1013. It comprises quotes from political essays, biographies, memorials, and decrees. Another notable Song
leishu
encyclopedia was the polymath
Shen Kuo
's 1088
Mengxi Bitan
("Dream Pool Essays"), which covers many realms of the humanities and natural sciences. The 1161
Tongzhi
("Comprehensive Records"), which was compiled by the
Southern Song dynasty
scholar Zheng Qiao 鄭樵, became a model for later encyclopedias.
The
Ming dynasty
period (1368?1644) was, in comparison with the Song period, of less significance for the history of Chinese encyclopedias. However, the
Yongle Emperor
commissioned compilation of the 1408
Yongle Encyclopedia
, which was a collection of excerpts from works in philosophy, history, arts, and sciences?and the world's largest encyclopedia at the time. The 1609
Sancai Tuhui
("Pictorial Compendium of the Three Realms" [heaven, earth, and people]) was compiled by
Wang Qi
and
Wang Siyi
. This early illustrated encyclopedia comprised articles on many subjects including history, astronomy, geography, biology, and more, including a very accurate
Shanhai Yudi Quantu
world map
. The 1621
Wubei Zhi
("Treatise on Armament Technology") is the most comprehensive military encyclopedia in
Chinese history
. The 1627
Diagrams and explanations of the wonderful machines of the Far West
was an illustrated encyclopedia of Western mechanical devices translated into Chinese by the
Jesuit
Johann Schreck
and the scholar Wang Zheng 王徵.
Song Yingxing
's (1637)
Tiangong Kaiwu
("Exploitation of the Works of Nature") was an illustrated encyclopedia of science and technology, and notable for breaking from Chinese tradition by rarely quoting earlier works. In Ming China, with the spreading of written knowledge to strata outside the literati, household
riyong leishu
日用類書 ("Encyclopedias for daily use") began to be compiled, "summarizing practical information for townsfolk and others not primarily concerned with mastering the Confucian heritage."
[11]
The last great
leishu
encyclopedias were published during the
Qing dynasty
(1644?1911). The 1726
Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China
was a vast encyclopedic work compiled during the reigns of Emperors
Kangxi
and
Yongzheng
. The 1782
Complete Library of the Four Treasuries
(or
Siku Quanshu
) was the largest Chinese
leishu
encyclopedia, and commissioned by the
Qianlong Emperor
in order to show that the Qing dynasty could surpass the Ming
Yongle Encyclopedia
. This colossal collection contained some 800 million Chinese characters, and remained the world's largest encyclopedia until recently being surpassed by the
English Wikipedia
. The emperor ordered the destruction of 2,855 books that were considered to be
anti-Manchu
, but were listed in the 1798
Annotated Bibliography of the Four Treasuries
annotated catalog. The 1773
Van đai lo?i ng?
("Categorized Sayings from the Library") is a
Chinese-language
Vietnamese encyclopedia compiled by the scholar
Le Quy đon
.
Modern period
[
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]
Present-day Chinese encyclopedias?in the common Western sense of "comprehensive reference work covering a wide range of subjects"?include both printed editions and
online encyclopedias
.
Among printed encyclopedias, the earliest was the (1917)
The Encyclopaedia Sinica
compiled the English missionary Samuel Couling. The 1938
Cihai
("Sea of Words") is a general-purpose encyclopedic dictionary that covers many fields of knowledge. The
Zhonghua Book Company
published the first edition, and the
Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House
issued revised editions in 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2009, making the
Cihai
a standard reference work for generations. The 1980-1993
Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu
or
Encyclopedia of China
is the first comprehensive (74 volume) Chinese encyclopedia. Compilation began in 1978, and the
Encyclopedia of China Publishing House
published individual volumes from 1980 through 1993. There is a 2009 concise second edition, as well as CD-ROM and online versions. The (1981?83)
Zhonghua Baike Quanshu
or
Chinese Encyclopedia
is a 10-volume comprehensive reference work published by the
Chinese Culture University
in Taiwan. An online version is also available. The 1985?91 Chinese-language edition
Concise Encyclopædia Britannica
or
Jianming Buliedian Baike Quanshu
is an 11-volume translation based on the Micropædia portion of the 1987 15th edition of the
Encyclopædia Britannica
.
Among major online Chinese encyclopedias, for
Standard Chinese
, the two largest both began in 2005, the
Baike.com Encyclopedia
and the
Baidu Encyclopedia
. There is the
Chinese Wikipedia
(2002?present), and for
varieties of Chinese
, there are
Cantonese
,
Mindong
,
Minnan
,
Wu
, and
Gan Wikipedias
, as well as the Classical Chinese Wikipedia
(
zh-classical:
). Lastly, there are modern English-language encyclopedias of China. For example, the 1991 2nd edition of the
Cambridge Encyclopedia of China
, the 2009
Brill's Encyclopedia of China
, and the 5-volume 2009
Berkshire Encyclopedia of China
.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Lehner, Georg (2011), "China in European Encyclopedias, 1700?1850", in George Bryan Souza ed.,
European Expansion and Indigenous Response
, Brill, vol. 9, p. 48.
- ^
Bauer, Wolfgang (1966), "The Encyclopaedia in China",
Cahiers d'Histoire Mondiale
9.1: 665-691.
- ^
Fowler, Robert L. (1997), "Encyclopaedias: Definitions and Theoretical Problems", in P. Binkley,
Pre-Modern Encyclopaedic Texts
, Brill, p. 9.
- ^
Wilkinson, Endymion (2000),
Chinese History: A New Manual
, Harvard University Press, p. 602-603.
- ^
Fowler, Robert L. (1997), "Encyclopaedias: Definitions and Theoretical Problems", in P. Binkley,
Pre-Modern Encyclopaedic Texts
, Brill, p. 9; citing Dieny, Jean-Pierre (1991), "
Les encyclopedies chinoises
," in
Actes du colloque de Caen 12-16 janvier 1987
, Paris, p. 198.
- ^
Teng, Ssu-yu and Biggerstaff, Knight (1971),
An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works
, 3rd ed., Harvard University Press, p. 83.
- ^
Needham, Joseph, Lu Gwei-djen, and Huang Hsing-Tsing (1986),
Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1 Botany
, Cambridge University Press, p. 192.
- ^
Carson, Michael and Loewe, Michael (1993), "
Lu shih ch'un ch'iu
呂氏春秋", in Loewe, Michael,
Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide
, Society for the Study of Early China; Institute of East Asian Studies, p. 325.
- ^
Bauer (1966), p. 678.
- ^
Bauer (1966), p. 680.
- ^
Wilkinson (2000), p. 602.
External links
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