The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern
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 ...
in the
Chinese language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...
. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the
Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, beginning in 1980 with a volume on
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 ...
; the final volume was completed in 1993. It comprised 74 volumes, with more than 80,000 entries. Arranged by subject, which numbered 66 (some subjects occupy more than one volume), within each subject, entries were arranged by
pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
as many modern
Chinese dictionaries have been. A
Uyghur language
The Uyghur or Uighur language (; , , , or , , , , CTA: Uyğurçä; formerly known as Eastern Turki), is a Turkic language written in a Uyghur Perso-Arabic script with 8-11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xin ...
edition was also published in 2015.
A
CD-ROM version and a subscription-based online version are also available. A second and more concise edition of the work was published in 2009.
The third online edition was released and published in the end of 2018, which is free to use. More than 20,000 scholars participated in this online encyclopaedia program which started in 2011, including some experts from
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Repub ...
. The encyclopedia has more than 300,000 entries.
China to launch own encyclopaedia to rival Wikipedia
''AFP''.
See also
* Chinese encyclopedias
References
External links
The ''Encyclopedia of China'', Third Edition
The database of the encyclopedia of China
{{Subscription required
Chinese online encyclopedias
1980 non-fiction books
Chinese encyclopedias
20th-century encyclopedias
21st-century encyclopedias