Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China

File:Columbia Qingding Gujin Tushu Jicheng.png

The Columbia University copy of the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China, rebound in a Western style by Professor Frederick Hirth for ease of handling

The Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (or the Gujin Tushu Jicheng) is a vast encyclopedic work written in China during the reigns of the Qing dynasty emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. It was begun in 1700 and completed in 1725. The work was headed and compiled mainly by scholar Chen Menglei ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Later on the Chinese painter Jiang Tingxi helped work on it as well.

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It contained 800,000 pages and over 100 million Chinese characters,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> making it the largest leishu ever printed. Topics covered included natural phenomena, geography, history, literature and government. The work was printed in 1726 using copper movable type printing. It spanned around 10 thousand rolls ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). To illustrate the huge size of the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China, it is estimated to have contained 3 to 4 times the amount of material in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.<ref>Fowler, Robert L. (1997), "Encyclopaedias: Definitions and Theoretical Problems", in P. Binkley, Pre-Modern Encyclopaedic Texts, Brill, p. 9; citing Diény, Jean-Pierre (1991), "Les encyclopédies chinoises," in Actes du colloque de Caen 12–16 janvier 1987, Paris, p. 198.</ref>

In 1908, the Guangxu Emperor 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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. A complete copy in Japan was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

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

Name

The Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China is known as the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (Template:Zh) or Qinding Gujin Tushu Jicheng (Template:Zh)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in Chinese, also translated as the Imperial Encyclopaedia, the Complete Collection of Ancient and Modern Illustrations and Texts, the Complete Collection of Ancient and Modern Writings and Charts, or the Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times.

Compilation

File:Gǔjīn Túshū Jíchéng.gif

Illustration of mountains and rivers in Volume 52 of the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (3rd year of Yongzheng, Qing dynasty, 1725, Chen Menglei)

The Kangxi Emperor hired Chen Menglei of Fuzhou 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 Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (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.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>

Outline

The 6 series are as follows.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1. Heavens/Time/Calendrics (历象): Celestial objects, the seasons, calendar mathematics and astronomy, heavenly portents
2. Earth/Geography (方舆): Mineralogy, political geography, list of rivers and mountains, other nations (Korea, Japan, India, Kingdom of Khotan, Ryukyu Kingdom)
3. 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
4. Nature (博物): Procivilities (crafts, divination, games, medicine), spirits and unearthly beings, fauna, flora (all life forms on Earth)
5. Philosophy (理学): Classics of non-fiction, aspects of philosophy (numerology, filial piety, shame, etc.), forms of writing, philology and literary studies
6. Economy (经济): education and imperial examination, 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

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Strange or Unusual Phenomena - pic01 - 紫微垣圖.png

Part 2: Geography

Territories

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic001.png

  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)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic002.png

  Further inside China (Chengdu marked as 成都 and the northern desert marked as 沙漠)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic008 - 保定府疆域圖.png

  Map of Shanxi

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic277.png

  Map of Guangdong

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic245.png

  Map of Jiaozhi (Vietnam)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Prefectures and Other Territorial Divisions - pic253.png

  Map of Fujian

Borders

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic021 - 元股國.png

  Yuanguguo / Xuanguguo (玄股國), one of the countries in Huainanzi

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic097 - 斯伽里野.svg

  Kingdom of Sicily (Southern Italy), transcribed as 斯伽里野

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic090 - 麻阿塔國.svg

  Ma'ata (麻阿塔國), possibly referring to Malta, located in the Mediterranean Sea

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic102 - 大闍婆國.png

  Image of person from Kalingga Kingdom in Java (大闍婆國)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic106 - 三佛齊國.png

  Srivijaya (三佛齊國)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic028 - 女人國.png

  Kingdom of women (女人國), recorded in travels during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, possibly referring to some part of Australia. It is mentioned in the History of Yuan and was described by the Yuan dynasty traveler Wang Dayuan.

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Borders - pic109 - 小琉球國.png

  Ryukyu Kingdom

Part 3: Society

Human Affairs

Describes some anatomy of the human body

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0022 - 人身明堂五臟之圖.png

  Diagram of human body

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0021 - 肝有兩葉之圖.png

  Liver diagram

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0002 - 肺神圖.png
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0020 - 肝神圖.png

  Dragon

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Human Affairs - pic0005 - 脾神圖.png

Imperial Harem

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Palace Doors - pic002 - 女床三星圖.svg

  Palace Doors, Harem

Imperial Perfection

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Imperial Perfection - pic023.svg
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Imperial Perfection - pic125.png

Part 4: Nature

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Spirits and the Supernatural - pic54 - 女媧神圖.svg

  Image of Nüwa

Plant Kingdom

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Plant Kingdom - pic099 - 石龍芮圖.png

  Ranunculus sceleratus (石龍芮)

Part 5: Philosophy

Canonical and other Literature section

• Gǔjīn Túshū Jíchéng page.png

  Page from the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic001 - 古河圖.svg

  Guhe diagram (古河圖)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic012 - 河圖生成圖.png

  Hetu Shengchengtu (河圖生成圖)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic019 - 伏羲則河圖數定卦位圖.png

  Fuxi (伏羲) diagram

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic021 - 河圖交八卦之圖.png

  Bagua

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic023 - 河圖序乾父坤母六子圖.png

  Qiankun (乾坤) diagram

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic030 - 周易互卦合河圖變數圖.png
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic125 - 行圖（變圖解圖附下）.svg
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic075 - 天地極數圖.svg

  Tiandiji number diagram (天地极数图)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic043.svg

  Bagua trigrams

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic100 - 性圖.svg

  Xingtu (性图) with calendar dates

Mathematics

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic008.png

  Odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Canonical and other Literature - pic034 - 奇偶圖.png

  Parity: even and odd numbers

Education and Conduct

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic001 - 太極圖.png

  Taijitu and Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic129.png
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic134 - 伏羲太極圖.svg

  Fuxi's Taijitu

Study of Characters

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - The Study of Characters - pic04 - 王應電六義圖解.png

  Wang Yingdian liuyi tujie (王應電六義圖解)

Part 6: Economy

Military

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic303 - 輪流進弩圖.svg

  Crossbowmen

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic302 - 輪流發弩圖.png
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic062 - 樓船圖.png

  Navy

• Counterweight trebuchet 1726.jpg

  Counterweight trebuchet

Punishments and blessing

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Punishments and Blessing - pic0009 - 貫索九星圖.png

  Nine star diagram (九星图)

Food

• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Foods and Other Articles of Commerce - pic001.png
• Imperial Encyclopaedia - Foods and Other Articles of Commerce - pic414.svg

See also

• Yongle Encyclopedia
• Complete Library of the Four Treasuries
• Hua Sui

References

Sources

• Search for Modern China, Jonathan Spence, 1990.

External links

• 故宮東吳數位古今圖書集成 etext
• WorldCat
• Archive.org
• HathiTrust
• An Alphabetical Index To The Chinese Encyclopaedia
• WorldCat
• Google Books
• [1] Template:Webarchive
• [2]
• Library of Congress