''Cefu Yuangui'' (冊府元龜) is 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 ...

'' (encyclopedia) compiled during the Chinese

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

(AD 960–1279). It was the last of the '' Four Great Books of Song'', the previous three having been published in the 10th century.

History

The encyclopedia was commissioned by

Emperor Zhenzong Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was change ...

in October 1005 under the working title ''Records of Relations Between Rulers and Officials in Past Dynasties'' but was renamed ''Models from the Archives'' by the Emperor, to whom the finished work was presented on September 20, 1013. The final product was divided into 1,000 ''

juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

,'' 31 categories, and 1014 subcategories, all of which "related to administration of the empire, to bureaucracy, and to the imperial family." It did not include chapters on the natural world. Many people worked on the encyclopedia, including

Wang Qinruo Wang Qinruo ( 962 – 22 December 1025), courtesy name Dingguo, was an official in China's Northern Song Dynasty. He was the chancellor from 1017 to 1019 during Emperor Zhenzong's reign and from 1023 to 1025 during Emperor Renzong's reign. Wang ...

and Yang Yi who requested that the emperor hire more compilers. It was almost twice as large as the '' Imperial Reader of the Taiping Era'' and was ranked second in the '' Siku Quanshu'' collections.

Name

English titles for this encyclopedia are: * ''Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau'', * ''The Magic Mirror in the Palace of Books'', * ''Archival Palace as the Great Oracle'', * ''General Preface on Outer Ministers'', * ''Outstanding Models from the Storehouse of Literature'', and * ''Models from the Archives''.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Hu, Wenjie
''Cefu Yuangui'' ("Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau")
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'', 1st ed. *Kurz, Johannes. "The Compilation and Publication of the ''Taiping Yulan'' and the ''Cefu Yuangui''", in Florence Bretelle-Establet and

Karine Chemla Karine Chemla (born in Tunis February 8, 1957) is a French historian of mathematics and sinologist who works as a director of research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). She is also a senior fellow at the New York Universi ...

(eds.), Qu'est-ce qu'écrire une encyclopédie en Chine?. Extreme Orient-Extreme Occident Hors série (2007), 39–76.

External links