Encyclopaedias and Handbooks (leishu lei 類書類) is a subcategory in traditional Chinese bibliographies and part of the category of Masters and Philosophers (zibu 子部). The Chinese term leishu designates a book explaining selected topics by quoting ancient literature talking about the respective theme. Most "encyclopaedias" are divided into chapters the sequence and content of which soon obtained a fixed character. They commonly begin with Heaven/sky and astronomy, geography, proceed to a wide range of themes on statecraft and end with objects of daily life as well as zoology and botany. They quote from all kinds of literature, from the Confucian Classics, the histories and the "masters", and a lot of leishu especially focus on poetry. Not a few authors even write their explanations to the particular themes in verses and thus contributed to the development of textbooks written in verses to make learning easier. There are specialized encyclopaedias as well as general encyclopaedias. Except thematic arrangement, some encyclopaedias also arrange keywords phonetically or according to character shape.
The oldest book identified as a leishu was Cao Pi's 曹丕 lost book Huanglan 皇覽. Of the Tang period 唐 (618-907) encyclopaedias, the Beitang shuchao 北堂書鈔, Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚, Chuxueji 初學記 and Baishi liutie 白氏六貼 created the fundaments for later enyclopedias. For modern scholars, the leishu are of great importance because a lot of books quoted are long since lost, so that at least fragments of these books are preserved in the encyclopaedias. Song period 宋 (960-1279) scholars produced a large amount of leishu, of which the four large encyclopaedias (Song si da shu 宋四大書) are very famous. Of these, the Taiping guangji 太平廣記 is actually a collection of stories, and the Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華 a literary anthology. The most important Ming period 明 (1368-1644) encyclopaedia is the Yongle dadian 永樂大典, Chinas largest encyclopaedia compiled ever, which is only preserved in a few volumes. The Kangxi Emperor 康熙 (r. 1661-1722)
had compiled the book Gujin tushu jicheng 古今圖書集成. The encyclopaedias section of the reprint series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 includes 65 books.
Part of Siku quanshu 四庫全書 | ||
Part of Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書 |
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皇覽 * | Huanglan | (Cao-Wei) 劉劭 Liu Shao (et al.) |
古今同姓名錄 二卷 | Gujin tongxingming lu | (Liang) 梁元帝 Emperor Liang Yuandi; (Tang) 陸善經 Lu Shanjing (cont.), (Yuan) 葉森 Ye Lin (suppl.) |
編珠 二卷 | Bianzhu | (Sui) 杜公瞻 Du Gongzhan (?) |
藝文類聚 百卷 | Yiwen leiju | (Tang) 歐陽詢 Ouyang Xun (et al.; imp. ord.) |
群書治要 * | Qunshu zhiyao | (Tang) 魏徵 Wei Zheng |
北堂書鈔 百六十卷 | Beitang shuchao | (Tang) 虞世南 Yu Shinan |
龍筋鳳髓判 四卷 | Longjin fengsui pan | (Tang) 張鷟 Zhang Zu, (Ming) 劉允鵬 Liu Yunpeng (comm.) |
初學記 三十卷 | Chuxueji | (Tang) 徐堅 Xu Jian (et al.) |
元和姓纂 十卷 | Yuanhe xingzuan | (Tang) 林寶 Lin Bao |
白孔六帖 百卷 | Bai-Kong liutie | (Tang) 白居易 Bai Juyi, (Song) 孔傳 Kong Chuan |
貞觀氏族志 * | Zhenguan shizu zhi | (Tang) 孔志約 Kong Zhiyue |
姓氏錄 * | Xingshilu | (Tang) 高士廉 Gao Shilian etc. |
小名錄 二卷 | Xiaominglu | (Tang) 陸龜蒙 Lu Guimeng |
蒙求集註 二卷 | Mengqiuji zhu | (Tang) 李瀚 Li Han, (Song) 徐子光 Xu Ziguang |
事類賦註 三十卷 | Shilei fuzhu | (Song) 吳淑 Wu Shu |
太平御覽 千卷 | Taiping yulan | (Song) 李昉 Li Fang (et al.; imp. ord.) |
冊府元龜 千卷 | Cefu yuangui | (Song) 王欽若 Wang Qinruo, 楊億 Yang Yi (et al.; imp. ord.) |
事物紀原 十卷 | Shiwu jiyuan | (Song) 高承 Gao Cheng |
實賓錄 十四卷 | Shibinlu | (Song) 馬永易 Ma Yongyi; 文彪 Wen Biao (rev.) |
書敍指南 二十卷 | Shuxu zhinan | (Song) 任廣 Ren Guang |
海錄碎事 二十二卷 | Hailu suishi | (Song) 葉庭珪 Ye Tinggui |
古今姓氏書辯證 四十卷 | Gujin xingshishu bianzheng | (Song) 鄧名世 Deng Mingshi, 鄧椿年 Deng Chunnian (comp.) |
帝王經世圖譜 十六卷 | Diwang jingshi tupu | (Song) 唐仲友 Tang Zhongyou |
職官分紀 五十卷 | Zhiguan fenji | (Song) 孫逢吉 Sun Fengji |
歷代制度詳說 十二卷 | Lidai zhidu xiangshuo | (Song) 呂祖謙 Lü Zuqian |
八面鋒 十三卷 | Bamianfeng | (Song) 陳傅良 Chen Fuliang |
錦繡萬花谷 百二十卷 | Jinxiu wanhua gu | (Song) anon. |
(古今)事文類聚 二百三十六卷 | (Gujin) Shiwen leiju | (Song) 祝穆 Zhu Mu, (Yuan) 富大用 Fu Dayong, 祝淵 Zhu Yuan |
記纂淵海 百卷 | Jizuan yuanhai | (Song) 潘自牧 Pan Zimu |
全芳備祖集 五十八卷 | Quanfang beizu ji | (Song) 陳景沂 Cheng Jingyi |
群書考索 二百十二卷 | Qunshu kaosuo | (Song) 章如愚 Zhang Ruyu |
(古今)合璧事類備要 三百六十五卷 | (Gujin) Hebi shilei beiyao | (Song) 謝維新 Xie Weixin |
(古今)源流至論 四十卷 | (Gujin) Yuanliu zhilun | (Song) 林駧/駉 Lin Tong/Jiong, 黃履翁 Huang Lüweng |
分門瑣碎錄 (瑣碎錄) (殘) * | Fenmen suosui lu (Suosuilu) > Agriculture and agronomy | (Song) 溫革 Wen Ge |
玉海 二百卷 | Yuhai | (Song) 王應麟 Wang Yinglin |
小學紺珠 十卷 | Xiaoxue ganzhu | (Song) 王應麟 Wang Yinglin |
小字錄 一卷 | Xiaozilu | (Song) 陳思 Chen Si |
雞肋 一卷 | Jile | (Song) 趙崇絢 Zhao Chongxun |
事林廣記 * | Shilin guangji | (Song) 陳元靚 Chen Yuanjing |
奩史 百卷 (續修) | Lianshi | (Song) 丁升之 Ding Shengzhi |
翰苑新書 百五十六卷 | Hanyuan xinshu | (Song) anom. |
韻府群玉 二十卷 | Yunfu qunyu | (Yuan) 陰勁弦 Yin Jingxuan, 陰復春 Yin Fuchun |
純正蒙求 三卷 | Chunzheng mengqiu | (Yuan) 胡炳文 Hu Bingwen |
永樂大典 * | Yongle dadian | (Ming) 解縉 Jie Jin, 姚廣孝 Yao Guangxiao (et al., imp. ord.) |
喻林 百二十卷 | Yulin | (Ming) 徐元太 Xu Yuantai |
同姓名錄 十二卷 | Tongxingming lu | (Ming) 余寅 Yu Yin |
說略 三十卷 | Shuolüe | (Ming) 顧起元 Gu Qiyuan |
天中記 六十卷 | Tianzhongji | (Ming) 陳耀文 Chen Yaowen |
山堂肆考 二百二十八卷 | Shantang sikao | (Ming) 彭大翼 Peng Dayi, 張幼學 Zhang Youxue |
廣博物志 五十卷 | Guang bowuzhi | (Ming) 董斯張 Dong Sizhang |
三才圖會 * | Sancai tuhui | (Ming) 王圻 Wang Qi, 王思義 Wang Siyi |
婦女雙名記 * | Funü shuangming ji | (Ming) 李肇亨 Li Zhaoheng |
宮閨小名錄 * | Gonggui xiaoming lu | (Qing) 尤侗 You Tong |
(御定)淵鑑類函 四十五卷 | (Yuding) Yuanjian leihan | (Qing) 張英 Zhang Ying, 王士禎 Wang Shizhen (imp. ord.) |
(御定)駢字類編 二百四十卷 | (Yuding) Pianzi leibian | (Qing) 吳士玉 Wu Shiyu, 沈宗敬 Shen Zongjing (imp. ord.) |
(御定)分類字錦 六十四卷 | (Yuding) Fenlei zijin | (Qing) 何焯 He Zhuo, 陳鵬年 Chen Pengnian (imp. ord.) |
(御定)子史精華 百六十卷 | (Yuding) Zishi jinghua | (Qing) 吳士玉 Wu Shiyu, 吳襄 Wu Xiang (imp. ord.) |
(御定)佩文韻府 四百四十四卷 | (Yuding) Peiwen yunfu | (Qing) 張玉書 Zhang Yushu, 陳廷敬 Chen Tingjing (imp. ord.) |
(御定)韻府拾遺 百十二卷 | (Yuding) Yunfu shiyi | (Qing) 張廷玉 Zhang Tingyu (imp. ord.) |
格致鏡原 百卷 | Gezhi jingyuan | (Qing) 陳元龍 Chen Yuanlong |
藝林彙考 | Yilin huikao → Miscellaneous treatises | (Qing) 沈自南 Shen Zinan |
宋稗類鈔 三十六卷 | Songbai leichao | (Qing) 潘永因 Pan Yongyin |
類書纂要 * | Leishu zuanyao | (Qing) 周魯 Zhou Lu |
壹是紀始 * | Yishi jishi | (Qing) 魏崧 Wei Song |
清稗類鈔 * | Qingbai leichao | (Republic) 徐珂 Xu Ke |
太平御覽 | Taiping yulan | (Song) 李昉 Li Fang (et al.; imp. ord.) |
冊府元龜 | Cefu yuangui | (Song) 王欽若 Wang Qinruo, 楊億 Yang Yi (et al.; imp. ord.) |
太平廣記 | Taiping guangji | (Song) 李昉 Li Fang (et al.; imp. ord.) |
文苑英華 | Wenyuan yinghua | (Song) 李昉 Li Fang (et al.; imp. ord.) |
* not included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, the catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目題要, nor the Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書. |