''Tongzhi'' ("Comprehensive Records") is an 1161 Chinese
general knowledge
General knowledge is information that has been accumulated over time through various mediums and sources. It excludes specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General kn ...
encyclopedia written by Zheng Qiao (鄭樵) in the
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 rest ...
, containing 200 chapters on diverse topics.
Contents
After the ''
Tongdian
The ''Tongdian'' () is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 ...
'', 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 Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
. 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
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, 1995
Notes
{{reflist
1161 in Asia
12th century in China
1161 works
Song dynasty literature
Leishu
12th-century Chinese books