Contents
After the ''Tongdian'', it was the second encyclopedia of the ''Santong'' (The Three Encyclopedias), which were often published together. It is also included second among the ''Shitong'' (The Ten Encyclopedias), compiled in the Qing dynasty. The ''Tongzhi'' became a model for most of the later encyclopedias. ''Tongzhi'' is arranged in 200 volumes (''juan''), plus three volumes of notes. The historical information covers from earliest times to the end of the Tang dynasty. The contents include basic annals, yearly chronicles, hereditary houses, ranked biographies, and twenty monographs (''lüe'' 略) on various topics, the last of which are considered the most original part.Endymion, 526. The twenty monographs, which comprise 52 volumes, deal with clans, the Chinese character classification, six classes of characters, phonetics, astronomy, geography, capital cities, rituals, posthumous names, vessels and robes, music, official titles, the examination system, punishment, food and money, arts and literature, collation, images, metal and stone, disasters and fortunes, insects and plants. The comprehensivity of these monographs has long been noted; the ''Siku Quanshu Zongmu Tiyao'' (completed in 1798) praised them in particular. The chapter on images (''Tu pu lüe'' 图谱略) has attracted considerable interest among art theorists. In this section, he gives images primacy in transmitting values, using metaphor that compares the images as the warp (''jing'' 經) and the text as the weft (''wei'' 緯).Han Si. ''A Chinese Word on Image: Zheng Qiao (1104-1162) and His Thought on Images''. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 2008. The chapter on arts and literature (''Yi wen lüe'' 藝文略) has the most detailed bibliographic scheme in pre-modern China.Modern editions
* Shanghai guji, 1993 * Zhonghua, 1995Notes
{{reflist 1161 in Asia 12th century in China 1161 works Song dynasty literature Leishu 12th-century Chinese books