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 Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. 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 i ...

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 Du Huan (, ) was a Chinese travel writer born in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty. According to his writings, he was one of a few Chinese captured in the Battle of Talas in 751, along with artisans Fan Shu and Liu Ci and fabric weavers Le Wei and L ...

, who was taken captive in the famous battle at the

Talas River The Talas (Kyrgyz, kk, Талас) is a river that rises in the Talas Region of Kyrgyzstan and flows west into Kazakhstan. The river is long and has a basin area of . Course It is formed from the confluence of the Karakol and Uch-Koshoy and f ...

between Tang and the Arabs in 751 and did not return to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

until ten years later. It became a model for works by scholar

Zheng Qiao Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...

and

Ma Duanlin ''Mă Duānlín'' () (1245–1322) was a Chinese historical writer and encyclopaedist. In 1317, during the Yuan Dynasty, he published the comprehensive Chinese encyclopedia ''Wenxian Tongkao'' in 348 volumes. He was born to the family of Southern ...

centuries later.

Robert G. Hoyland Robert G. Hoyland (born 1966) is a historian, specializing in the medieval history of the Middle East. He is a former student of historian Patricia Crone and was a Leverhulme Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford. He is currently Professor of Late ...

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 early ...

", 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 The ''Twenty-Four Histories'' (), also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The Han dynasty official Sima Qian ...

.'' It was however quoted extensively in several books which were, starting with the ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

.''

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 The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'', 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 {{china-hist-book-stub