The ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' () or ''Yongle Dadian'' () is a largely-lost Chinese ''

leishu The ''leishu'' () is a genre of 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 of encyclopedi ...

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

commissioned by the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...

of the

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 ...

in 1403 and completed by 1408. It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls or chapters, in 11,095 volumes. Fewer than 400 volumes survive today, comprising about 800 chapters (rolls), or 3.5 percent of the original work. Most of it was lost in the 2nd half of the 19th century, in the midst of events as

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

, the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

and subsequent social unrests. Its sheer scope and size made it the world's largest general encyclopedia until it was surpassed by

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

in late 2007, nearly six centuries later.

Background

Although known for his military achievements, the

was an intellectual who enjoyed reading.Christos, Lauren. "The Yongle Dadian: The Origin, Destruction, Dispersal, and Reclamation of a Chinese Cultural Treasure." ''Journal of Library and Information Science'' 36, no. 1 (April 2010): 85. http://140.122.104.2/ojs/index.php/jlis/article/view/538. His love for research led him to develop the idea of categorizing literary works into a reference

to preserve rare books and simplify research.Jianying, Huo. "Emperor Yongle." ''China Today'', April 2004, 58.Tsai, Shih-Shan Henry. Perpetual The Ming Emperor Yongle, University of Washington Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.oca.ucsc.edu/lib/ucsc/detail.action?docID=3444272. Instrumental to this undertaking was Emperor Yongle’s own changes to the function of the

Hanlin Academy The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an. Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed sec ...

. Prior to his reign, the Hanlin Academy was responsible for various clerical tasks such as drafting proclamations and edicts. Emperor Yongle decided to elevate the status of the Hanlin Academy and began selecting only the highest-ranking recruits for the academy. Clerical duties were relegated to Imperial officers, whereas the Hanlin Academy, now full of elite scholars, began to work on literary projects for the Emperor.

Development

The ''Yongle Dadian'' was commissioned by the

(r. 1402–1424) and completed in 1408. In 1404, a year after the work was commissioned, a team of 100 scholars, mostly from the Hanlin Academy, completed a manuscript called ''A Complete Work of Literature.'' Emperor Yongle rejected this work and insisted on adding other volumes. In 1405, under Emperor Yongle’s command, the number of scholars rose to 2,169. Scholars were sent all over China to find books and expand the

. Emperor Yongle assigned his personal advisor, Dao Yan, a monk, and Liu Jichi, the deputy minister of punishment, as co-editors of the encyclopedia, supporting

Yao Guangxiao Yao Guangxiao (姚廣孝, 1335–1418), also known by his dharma name Daoyan (), was a Chinese military strategist, statesman and Chan Buddhist monk who lived in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. Daoyan was born in Changzhou County (t ...

. The scholars spent four years compiling the ''

'' encyclopedia, under the leadership of general editor Yao Guangxiao. The encyclopedia was completed in 1408 at the

Guozijian The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui ...

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

(now

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...

). It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls '' Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.'' or chapters, in 11,095 volumes, occupying roughly , and using 370 million

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

— the equivalent of about a quarter of a billion English words (around six times as many as the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

''). It was designed to include all that had been written on the

Confucian canon The Thirteen Classics () is a term for the group of thirteen classics of Confucian tradition that became the basis for the Imperial Examinations during the Song dynasty and have shaped much of East Asian culture and thought. It includes all of t ...

, as well as all history, philosophy, arts and sciences. It was a massive collation of excerpts and works from the entirety of Chinese literature and knowledge. Emperor Yongle was so pleased with the finished encyclopedia, that he named it after his reign, and personally wrote a lengthy preface highlighting the importance of preserving the works.

Style

The encyclopedia's physical appearance differed from any other Chinese encyclopedias of the time.Campbell, Ducan. "The Huntington Library’s Volume of the Yongle Encyclopaedia (Yongle Dadian 湛樂댕듕): A Bibliographical and Historical Note." ''East Asian History'', no. 42 (March 2018): 1. http://www.eastasianhistory.org/42/campbell. It was larger in size, used special paper, and was bound in a "wrapped back" (, ''bao bei zhuang'') style.Clunas, Craig, and Jessica Harrison-Hall. ''The BP Exhibition: Ming: 50 Years That Changed China''. The British Museum, 2014. The use of red ink for titles and authors, an ink exclusively reserved for the emperor, helped to confirm that the volumes were of royal production. Each volume was protected by a hard-cover which was wrapped in yellow

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

. The

was not arranged by subject, like other encyclopedias, but rather by (''Hongwu zhengyun''), a system in which characters are ordered

phonetically Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

/rhythmically. The use of this system helped the reader find specific entries with ease. Although book printing already existed in the

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 ...

, the ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' was exclusively handwritten. Each handwritten entry was a collection of existing literature, some of which derived from rare and delicate texts. The importance of the ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' was the preservation of such texts, and the vast number of subjects it covered.

Reception

At the end of the

, scholars began to question Emperor Yongle's motives for not commissioning more copies of the encyclopedia, instead of keeping them in storage. Some scholars, like Sun Chengze, a Qin scholar, theorized that Emperor Yongle used the literary project for political reasons. At the time, Neo-Confucians were refusing to take civil service exams, or participate in any imperial duties, due to Emperor Yongle's violent usurpation of the throne. Emperor Yongle's literary undertaking did attract the attention of these scholars, who eventually joined the project. Because Emperor Yongle did not want a strictly

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 Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

point of view for the encyclopedia, non-Confucian scholars were also included, and contributed to the Buddhist, Daoist, and Divination sections of the encyclopedia. The inclusion of these subjects intensified the scrutiny against Emperor Yongle amongst Neo-Confucians who believed the encyclopedia was nothing but "wheat and chaff". However, despite the varied opinions, the encyclopedia is widely regarded as a priceless contribution in preserving a wide range of China's historic works, many of which would be lost otherwise.

Disappearance

The ''Yongle Dadian'' was not

printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

for the general public because the treasury had run out of funds when it was completed in 1408. It was placed in

Wenyuan Ge The Belvedere of Literary Profundity (; Manchu: ''šu tunggu asari''), Wenyuan Ge or Wenyuan Library is a palace building in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The hall was an imperial library, and a place for learned discussion. Thus some Grand ...

() in Nanjing until 1421, when the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing and placed the Yongle Dadian in the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...

. In 1557, during the reign of the

Jiajing Emperor The Jiajing Emperor (; 16September 150723January 1567) was the 12th List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His father, Zhu You ...

, the encyclopedia was narrowly saved from a fire that burnt down three palaces in the Forbidden City. A manuscript copy was commissioned by Jiajing Emperor in 1562 and completed in 1567. The original copy was lost afterwards. There are three major hypotheses for its disappearance, but no conclusion was made: *Destroyed in late Ming dynasty.

Li Zicheng Li Zicheng (22 September 1606 – 1645), born Li Hongji, also known by the nickname, Dashing King, was a Chinese peasant rebel leader who overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and ruled over northern China briefly as the emperor of the short-li ...

, rebel leader, in 1644 overthrew the Ming dynasty and took over the Ming capital, Beijing. A few months later, he was defeated by the coalition of

Wu Sangui Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a notorious Ming Dynasty military officer who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty in China. In Chinese ...

and

Dorgon Dorgon (, ; 17 November 1612 – 31 December 1650), was a Manchu prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty. Born in the House of Aisin-Gioro as the 14th son of Nurhaci (the founder of the Later Jin dynasty, predecessor of the Qing dynasty) ...

. Li burned the Forbidden City when he withdrew from Beijing. The ''Yongle Dadian'' may have been destroyed in the fire. *Buried with

. The time when the Jiajing Emperor was buried was very close to the time of completion of the manuscript copy. Jiajing Emperor died in December 1566, but was buried three months later, in March 1567. One possibility is that they were waiting for the manuscript to be completed. *Burned in the Qianqing Palace fire. The original manuscript of the ''Yongle Dadian'' was almost completely lost by the end of the Ming dynasty. 90 percent of the 1567 manuscript survived until the

during the

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-speak ...

. In 1860, the Anglo-French invasion of Beijing resulted in the majority of the encyclopedia being burnt or looted, with British and French soldiers taking large portions of the manuscript as souvenirs. 5,000 volumes remained by 1875, less than half of the original, which dwindled to 800 by 1894. During the

and the 1900

Eight-Nation Alliance The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, then besieged by the popular Boxer militia, who were determined to remove fo ...

occupation of Beijing, allied soldiers took hundreds of volumes, and many were destroyed in the Hanlin Academy fire. Only 60 volumes remained in Beijing.

Current status

The most complete collection is kept at the

National Library of China The National Library of China (; NLC) is the national library of the People's Republic of China and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It contains over 41 million items as of December 2020. It holds the largest collection of Chines ...

in Beijing, which holds 221 volumes. The next largest collection is at the

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, which holds 62 volumes. Sections of the ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' (sections 10,270 and 10,271) reside at the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

in San Marino, California. 51 volumes are in the United Kingdom held at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, and

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

; the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

of the United States holds 41 volumes;

Cornell University Library The Cornell University Library is the library system of Cornell University. As of 2014, it holds over 8 million printed volumes and over a million ebooks. More than 90 percent of its current 120,000 Periodical literature, periodical titles are ...

has 6 volumes; and 5 volumes are held in various libraries in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Two volumes were sold at a Paris auction on July 7, 2020, for more than €8 million (US$9 million).

References

Citations

Sources

* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, Anne Walthall, James B. Palais. (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. . * Guo Bogong (). ''Yongle dadian kao'' . Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937.

External links

*Digitized chapters of the Encyclopedia:
221 chapters
held by the

in Beijing (online via the

World Digital Library The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...

)
49 chapters
held by the

in London
9 chapters
held by the

Chester Beatty Library The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of ...

in Dublin *
China to Digitalize World's Earliest Encyclopedia
''People's Daily'' Online. April 2002 - aspirations, pending approval.

chinaculture.org.

china.org.cn. April 2002. {{Authority control 1408 books Chinese encyclopedias Ming dynasty literature Lost books Leishu Yongle Emperor

Background

Development

Style

Reception

Disappearance

Current status

See also

References

Citations

Sources

External links