''Sancai Tuhui'' (, ), compiled by Wang Qi () and his son Wang Siyi (), is a Chinese ''

leishu The ''leishu'' () is a genre of Reference work, reference books historically compiled in China and other East Asian countries. The term is generally translated as "encyclopedia", although the ''leishu'' are quite different from the modern notion ...

'' encyclopedia, completed in 1607 and published in 1609 during the late

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, featuring illustrations of subjects in the three worlds of heaven, earth, and humanity. The work contains a large number of posthumous and contemporary depictions of

Chinese Emperor ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...

Title

The title of this encyclopedia has been variously translated into English as "Illustrations of the Three Powers",http://ibs001.colo.firstnet.net.uk/britishlibrary/controller/subjectidsearch?id=8190&idx=1&start=4 "Collected Illustrations of the Three Realms", "Pictorial Compendium of the Three Powers", and others; in the original title, "Sancai" () refers to the three realms of "heaven, earth, and man", and "Tuhui" () means "collection of illustrations".

Description

This encyclopedia is organized into 106 chapters in 14 categories (

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, and such), with text and illustrations for the articles. Reproductions of this encyclopedia are still in print in China. While it contains some inaccurate or mythological articles (for example, the articles on the

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to arachn ...

and the crane), it also distinguished itself from the common "everyday encyclopedias" (, ''riyong leishu'') at that time by being accurate in some other articles (for example, accurate depictions of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

people's

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

, and a very accurate

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of map projection, projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensiona ...

(the

Shanhai Yudi Quantu The ''Shanhai Yudi Quantu'' (, "Complete Terrestrial Map") is a Ming dynasty Chinese map published in 1609 in the ''leishu'' encyclopedia ''Sancai Tuhui''. Influences The Shanhai Yudi Quantu is known to have been highly influenced by the Jesui ...

References

External links

* http://www.ncl.edu.tw/rarebook/oldcol.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20050316001242/http://www.lib.ntu.edu.tw/dbs/dbs/ref/BOOKchin.htm * https://archive.today/20031217211032/http://www.xhlib.net/xinshu02.htm (World Maps in the Ming Dynasty from the Shanghai Xuhui District Library) * http://www.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/~ihpcamp/pdf/92year/wang-cheng-hua-2.pdf - Wang, Cheng-hua. , pp. 8–9. * http://horseshoecrab.sinica.edu.tw/15th.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20051128075412/http://www.fhk.gov.tw/fhkbook/hist/hist.asp-sq_no=45.htm * http://www.rice.edu//fondren/erc/projects/jingban/ (A map from the Chinese encyclopedia) {{Authority control Ming dynasty literature Chinese encyclopedias Leishu 1609 books 17th-century encyclopedias

Title

Description

See also

References

External links