''Song Huiyao Jigao'' ("Song Government Manuscript Compendium") is a

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

collection of

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 ...

writings on Song government, edited by Xu Song and others who extracted the manuscripts in part from the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

Yongle Encyclopedia The ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' () or ''Yongle Dadian'' () is a largely-lost Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1403 and completed by 1408. It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls or chapters, in 1 ...

'' (1408).

Background and content

During the reign of the Qing

Jiaqing Emperor The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from ...

(r. 1796-1820), whilst compiling the '' Quan Tang Wen'' (全唐文), ''literally: Complete Literature of the Tang'') academic Xu Song ordered the preparation of the ''Song Huiyao Jigao'' based on the ''Song Hui Yao'' (宋会要/宋會要, ''literally: Song Compendium'') of the Yongle Encyclopedia and other sources. The entire work runs to 366 chapters and includes sections covering Imperial genealogy (帝系), wives and concubines (后妃), music (乐)

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

Rites (礼), military attire (舆服), ceremonial procedure (仪制), divination (瑞异), divination (运历), Confucian honors〈崇儒), official appointments (职官), elections (选举), consumer goods (食货) crime and punishment (刑法) military matters (兵), territorial issues (方域), foreigners and barbarians (蕃夷) and interpretation of the I Ching (道释) as well as 17 other topics. The book contains a large quantity of Imperial edicts and decrees as well as memorials and other documents relating to institutional mechanisms of the Song dynasty. Whilst not replacing the ''History of Song'', the ''Song Huiyao Jigao'' is still a key document for research into the Song legal system. Many of the elements comprising the ''Song Huiyao Jigao'' were lost until the 1930s when

Miao Quansun Miao Quansun () (20 September 184422 December 1919), courtesy name Yanzhi (), was a Chinese philologist, historian, educationalist, bibliographer and librarian. He oversaw the foundation of the Jiangnan Library in Nanjing and was the first admini ...

(缪荃孙/繆荃孫) Tu Ji (屠寄) and Liu Fuceng (刘富曾/劉富曾) compiled a new version that was first published in 1936.

References

*(In Chinese) ''This article is based on a translation of'
宋会要辑稿
in Chinese Wikipedia Song dynasty literature Government of the Song dynasty {{China-lit-stub