The ''Gujin Tushu Jicheng'' (), also known as the ''Imperial Encyclopaedia'', is a vast encyclopedic work written in China during the reigns of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. It was begun in 1700 and completed in 1725. The work was headed and compiled mainly by scholar

Chen Menglei Chen Menglei (; 1650-1741) was a Qing dynasty scholar-writer known for being the chief editor, compiler, and author of the Gujin Tushu Jicheng Chinese encyclopedia. In 1670, he became a Jinshi. Chen Menglei conducted research for over 50 years, c ...

(). Later on Jiang Tingxi helped work on it as well. It is also sometimes called the ''Qinding Gujin Tushu Jicheng'' (). 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. It contained 800,000 pages and over 100 million

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

s, making it the largest

leishu The ''leishu'' () is a genre of reference books historically compiled in China and other East Asian countries. The term is generally translated as "encyclopedia", although the ''leishu'' are quite different from the modern notion of encycloped ...

ever printed. Topics covered included natural phenomena,

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

. The work was printed in 1726 using copper

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation m ...

printing. It spanned around 10 thousand rolls (). To illustrate the huge size of the ''Gujin Tushu Jicheng'', it is estimated to have contained 3 to 4 times the amount of material in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. S ...

''. In 1908, the

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, w ...

of China presented a set of the encyclopaedia in 5,000 fascicles to the China Society of London, which has deposited it on loan to

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

. Another one of the three extant copies of the encyclopedia outside of China is located at the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. A complete copy in Japan was destroyed in the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshū at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Extensive firestorms an ...

. One of Yongzheng's brothers patronised the project for a while, although Yongzheng contrived to give exclusive credit to his father Kangxi instead.

Compilation

The

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...

hired

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

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 the ''Compendium'' or Tushu Huibian (图书汇编). By 1706 the book's first draft was completed, and the Kangxi emperor changed the title to 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.

Outline

The 6 series are as follows. # 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 The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was originally sited to ...

, 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 and

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

, 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.

Gallery

Part 1: Heavens/Astronomy

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Strange or Unusual Phenomena - pic01 - 紫微垣圖.png, alt=

Part 2: Geography

Territories File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic001.png, alt=, Map of the Qing dynasty's east coast (Mongolia and Taiwan marked as 蒙古 and 臺灣, Ryukyu and Korea marked as 琉球 and 朝鮮) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic002.png, alt=, Further inside China (Chengdu marked as 成都 and the northern desert marked as 沙漠) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic008 - 保定府疆域圖.png, alt=, Map of

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic277.png, alt=, Map of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic245.png, alt=, Map of

Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Co ...

(Vietnam) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic253.png, alt=, Map of

Borders

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic021 - 元股國.png, alt=, Yuanguguo / Xuanguguo ( 玄股國), one of the countries in Huainanzi File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic097 - 斯伽里野.svg, alt=,

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

(Southern Italy), transcribed as 斯伽里野 File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic090 - 麻阿塔國.svg, alt=, Ma'ata (麻阿塔國), possibly referring to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, located in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic102 - 大闍婆國.png, alt=, Image of person from

Kalingga Kingdom Kalingga ( jv, Karajan Kalingga; 訶陵 ''Hēlíng'' or 闍婆 ''She-pó / She-bó'' in Chinese sources) was a 6th-century Indianized kingdom on the north coast of Central Java, Indonesia. It was the earliest Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in Centr ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

(大闍婆國) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic106 - 三佛齊國.png, alt=,

Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th ...

(三佛齊國) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic028 - 女人國.png, alt=, Kingdom of women ( 女人國), recorded in travels during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, possibly referring to some part of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It is mentioned in the

History of Yuan The ''History of Yuan'' (''Yuán Shǐ''), also known as the ''Yuanshi'', is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' of China. Commissioned by the court of the Ming dynasty, in accordance to political ...

and was described by the Yuan dynasty traveler

Wang Dayuan Wang Dayuan (, fl. 1311–1350), courtesy name Huanzhang (), was a Chinese traveller of the Yuan dynasty from Quanzhou in the 14th century. He is known for his two major ship voyages. Wang Dayuan was born around 1311 at Hongzhou (present-day Na ...

. File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic109 - 小琉球國.png, alt=, Ryukyu Kingdom

Part 3: Society

Human Affairs

Describes some

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...

of the human body File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0022 - 人身明堂五臟之圖.png, alt=, Diagram of human body File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0021 - 肝有兩葉之圖.png, alt=,

Liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it i ...

diagram File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0002 - 肺神圖.png, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0020 - 肝神圖.png, alt=, Dragon File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0005 - 脾神圖.png, alt=

Imperial Harem

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Palace Doors - pic002 - 女床三星圖.svg, alt=, Palace Doors,

Harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

Imperial Perfection

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Imperial Perfection - pic023.svg, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Imperial Perfection - pic125.png, alt=

Part 4: Nature

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Spirits and the Supernatural - pic54 - 女媧神圖.svg, alt=, Image of

Nüwa Nüwa, also read Nügua, is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay. In the Huaina ...

Plant Kingdom

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Plant Kingdom - pic099 - 石龍芮圖.png, alt=, Ranunculus sceleratus (石龍芮)

Part 5: Philosophy

Canonical and other Literature section

File:Gǔjīn Túshū Jíchéng page.png, alt=, Page from Gujin Tushu Jicheng File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic001 - 古河圖.svg, alt=, Guhe diagram (古河圖) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic012 - 河圖生成圖.png, alt=, Hetu Shengchengtu (河圖生成圖) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic019 - 伏羲則河圖數定卦位圖.png, alt=,

Fuxi Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well ...

(伏羲) diagram File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic021 - 河圖交八卦之圖.png, alt=, Bagua File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic023 - 河圖序乾父坤母六子圖.png, alt=, Qiankun (乾坤) diagram File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic030 - 周易互卦合河圖變數圖.png, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic125 - 行圖（變圖解圖附下）.svg, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic075 - 天地極數圖.svg, alt=, Tiandiji number diagram (天地极数图) File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic043.svg, alt=, Bagua trigrams File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic100 - 性圖.svg, alt=, Xingtu (性图) with calendar dates

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic008.png, alt=, Odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc. File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic034 - 奇偶圖.png, alt=,

Parity Parity may refer to: * Parity (computing) ** Parity bit in computing, sets the parity of data for the purpose of error detection ** Parity flag in computing, indicates if the number of set bits is odd or even in the binary representation of the ...

: even and odd numbers

Education and Conduct

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic001 - 太極圖.png, alt=, Taijitu and

Wuxing (Chinese philosophy) (; Japanese: (); Korean: (); Vietnamese: ''ngũ hành'' (五行)), usually translated as Five Phases or Five Agents, is a fivefold conceptual scheme that many traditional Chinese fields used to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmi ...

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic129.png, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic134 - 伏羲太極圖.svg, alt=, Fuxi's Taijitu

Study of Characters

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - The Study of Characters - pic04 - 王應電六義圖解.png, alt=, Wang Yingdian liuyi tujie (王應電六義圖解)

Part 6: Economy

Military

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic303 - 輪流進弩圖.svg, alt=, Crossbowmen File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic302 - 輪流發弩圖.png, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic062 - 樓船圖.png, alt=,

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

File:Counterweight trebuchet 1726.jpg, alt=, Counterweight trebuchet

Punishments and blessing

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Punishments and Blessing - pic0009 - 貫索九星圖.png, alt=, Nine star diagram (九星图)

Food

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Foods and Other Articles of Commerce - pic001.png, alt= File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Foods and Other Articles of Commerce - pic414.svg, alt=

References

Citations

Sources

* ''Search for Modern China'',

Jonathan Spence Jonathan Dermot Spence (11 August 1936 – 25 December 2021) was an English-born American historian, Sinology, sinologist, and writer who specialized in History of China, Chinese history. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale Universit ...

, 1990.

External links

故宮東吳數位古今圖書集成
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WorldCat

{{Authority control Chinese culture Chinese encyclopedias Qing dynasty literature Sinology Chinese literature 1725 books 1726 books 18th-century encyclopedias Leishu