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, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
. 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
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
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 an Emperor of China, emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 712 to 756. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. Throu ...
", 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
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'', 1st ed.
Tongdian 通典 "Comprehensive Statutes"通典 Full text in Chinese
Encyclopedias in Chinese
Chinese history texts
8th-century history books
Tang dynasty literature
8th-century Chinese books
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