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 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 Kingdo ...
. The book was written by
Du You
Du You () (735 – December 23, 812), courtesy name Junqing (), formally Duke Anjian of Qi (), was a Chinese historian, military general, and politician. He served as chancellor of the Tang Dynasty. Du was born to an eminent aristocratic family ...
from 766 to 801. It contains 200 volumes and about 1.7 million words, and is at times regarded as the most representative contemporary texts of the Tang Dynasty. Du You also incorporated many materials from other sources, including a book written by his nephew,
Du Huan, who was taken captive in the famous battle at the
Talas River between Tang and the Arabs in 751 and did not return to
China until ten years later. It became a model for works by scholar
Zheng Qiao and
Ma Duanlin centuries later.
Robert G. Hoyland relates that the ''Tongdian''s first draft was a "history of human institutions from earliest times down to the reign of
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756 CE. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the ear ...
", and was subsequently revised as matters continued to evolve. It incorporates parts of the ''
Zhengdian'' of
Liu Zhi and the ''Great Tang Ritual Regulations of the Kaiyuan Era'' compiled by Xiao Song, and others in 732.
[Twitchett, ''Official History under the T'ang'', 104-7] The ''Tongdian'' was never included in the canon of the ''
Twenty-Four Histories.'' It was however quoted extensively in several books which were, starting with the ''
Old Book of Tang.''
Content
# 食貨典 Food and commodity
# 選舉典 Examination and advancement
# 職官典 Government offices
# 禮典 Rites
# 樂典 Music
# 兵典 Military
# 刑法典 Penal law
# 州郡典 Local administration
# 邊防典 Border defense
Notes
References
*
*Wu, Fen and Zeng, Yifen
"Tongdian" ("Comprehensive Institutions") ''
Encyclopedia of China'', 1st ed.
Tongdian 通典 "Comprehensive Statutes"通典 Full text in Chinese
Chinese encyclopedias
Chinese history texts
8th-century history books
Tang dynasty literature
8th-century Chinese books
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