The Yongle Encyclopedia was commissioned in 1403 (the 6th year of the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, whose imperial title was Yongle) and completed five years later. All together, 2,169 people were involved in the compilation. More than 1,300 were involved just in the transcription. It is one of the best-known manuscripts from the heyday of block printing. It includes 22,937 manuscript rolls, 11,095 volumes and about 370 million Chinese characters, making it an encyclopedia in the real sense. Besides the impressive scale, all the characters were written in neat brush standard script decorated with many dedicate illustrations, red periods and commas. The book sheet size was big, covered with graceful yellow hard back and in wrapped back binding.
Unlike previous reference books, the Yongle Encyclopedia used rhyme to organize the first words, which hugely facilitated retrieval. Based on the rhyme groups set out in The Rhymes Dictionary of Hongwu, the official rhymes dictionary compiled in the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, all characters in different rhyme groups were arranged in the Yongle Encyclopedia. Detailed explanations about the meanings of each character was given, followed by different ways of writing characters and parts summaries, allusions, poems, essays and so on. All the information about the characters were collected and listed and all quotations were from the original classics.
Quotations were written with a writing brush dipped in red ink and other information with black ink. With a clear structure and columns and compiled in a way similar to the method used to this day, the Yongle Encyclopedia is regarded as the world’s first and biggest encyclopedia.
The number of citations and scope of the Yongle Encyclopedia are simply enormous, making this encyclopedia all-inclusive. Over 7,000 ancient books were included, which pretty much covered the entire collection in the imperial book agency, Wenyuange, during the Ming Dynasty. The collection there included an array of subjects such as agriculture, art, astronomy, drama, geology, history, literature, medicine, natural sciences, religion, and technology. The result was the creation of a “library” in the early years of the 15th century. Over 500 very rare books have been found in this encyclopedia by later generations. After it was completed, the Yongle Encyclopedia was kept in the imperial court and not circulated in print. It was eventually destroyed by a big fire and thefts.
It is estimated that the surviving volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia in libraries and private collections in China total just over 800 rolls and 400-plus volumes, less than 4% of the original.
The Compendium of Works of the Past and the Present
The largest and most complete officially compiled reference book in existence is The Compendium of Works of the Past and the Present published during the Qing Dynasty. This book has 10,040 rolls, 5,020 volumes in 525 sheaths and about 170 million characters. It also includes over 10,000 illustrations and 6,000 cited works.
Chen Menglei (1650–1741) and Jiang Tingxi (1669–1732) during the reigns of Kangxi and Yongzheng presided over the editing. Chen Menglei contributed most to this huge project. The editing took 28 years and was completed in 1726. Emperor Yongzheng ordered 65 copies made from copper block type. They were completed in 1728. They were used as gifts for high government officials and not circulated until 1890, when the Shanghai Tongwen Bookstore was commissioned by the inner court to make 100 copies in the original size. These copies were used as gifts to foreign countries. Adhering to the rules of arrangement for reference books, summarized as “dividing things based on their categories,” the overall structure of The Compendium of Works of the Past and the Present is based on a classification system designed on the basis of the traditional cognitive approach of “sky, earth, human, matter and thing,” which is formed by “Huibian,” “Dian” and “Bu.” With a clear and meticulous category system, it goes far beyond previous reference books and further develops the concept of “dividing things based on their categories.” It represents a maturity in the development of ancient China reference books. Therefore, it is hailed as the “Kangxi Encyclopedia” or “Chinese Encyclopedia” by foreigners and has long enjoyed great fame both at home and abroad.
Siku Quanshu and Revised Continuation of Siku Quanshu
The compilation of book series started very early. Of all the book series, the one with the largest scale and biggest influence was the Siku Quanshu, officially compiled during the Qing Dynasty. The four branches refer to Jing classics, Shi histories, Zi philosophy works and Ji anthologies. The collection is complete, intact and diversified.
This enterprise started in 1772 and concluded in 1782. It covers 3,470 ancient books, 79,018 rolls in 36,078 volumes with approximately 1 billion Chinese characters. It is about 44 times as big as the Encyclopedia edited by Diderot. It is so massive and influential that no book to this day can challenge its scale.