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Taiping yulan 太平御覽

Oct 14, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Taiping yulan 太平御覽 "Imperial overview from the Taiping [xingguo] reign-period (976-983)" is the first large encyclopaedia of ancient China. It is one of the so-called "four large books" (Song si da shu 宋四大書) of the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126). The compendium is occasionally called Taiping bianlei 太平編類, Taiping zonglei 太平總類 or Taiping leibian 太平類編.

The Hanlin academician Li Fang 李昉 (925-996) took over the supervision of the compilation, which was done by 13 scholars, among them Hu Meng 扈蒙 (915-986), Wang Kezhen 王克貞 and Song Bai 宋白 (936-1012). It has a total length of 1,000 juan and is divided into 55 topics with 5,363 articles, with 63 articles or topics appended to other chapters. The compilation began in 977 and was finished in 983 and submitted to the throne with the title Taiping zonglei "General topics of the Taiping reign-period". Emperor Taizong 宋太宗 (r. 976-997) gave the encyclopaedia the transmitted title because he had personally read through the whole manuscript, and thus endorsed it as a book studied by the sovereign himself.

The imperial library and its holdings was the main source for the Taiping yulan, but the compilers also made use of older encyclopaedias by enlarging, extending and supplementing full quotations of them. Such books were, for example, the Xiuwendian yulan 修文殿御覽, Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚 or Wensi boyao 文思博要, of which today only the 100-juan-long Yiwen leiju has survived. The Taiping yulan is thus, due to this type of quotations, a very important source for pre-Song sources which are not preserved. For the compilation, a total number of 1,689 sources have been used a list of which can be found at the beginning of the encylopaedia (Jingshi tushu gangmu 經史圖書綱目). The scholar Ma Nianzu 馬念祖 found out that in fact, 2,579 books have been quoted and used, but not all of them are listed in the tushu gangmu. About 70 to 80 per cent of the sources quoted are lost. Unfortunately, the method of quoting older encyclopedias instead of consulting the primary sources (at least for books still available at the time), is a lack of scholarly diligence. As to surviving sources, however, it is helpful to compare these texts with the quotations in the Taiping yulan, for often enough, the wording of the received versions is not fully identical to the quotations in the Taiping yulan. One weak point of the Taiping yulan is its overall composition which has not been adjusted in all parts.

The oldest surviving fragment of a Song-period print of the Taiping yulan has been reproduced by the Bisong Studio 皕宋樓, surviving in the Japanese Seikadō Studio 靜嘉堂. A further print was produced in Sichuan in 1199. In 1573, a moveable character print was published. Another edition was published during the Wanli reign-period 萬曆 (1573-1619) by Ni Bingxiao 倪炳校, the so-called Huangzheng seben 黃正色本 edition. In 1806, Wang Changxu 汪昌序 published another moveable-type print, while yet another moveable-type print was produced in 1855 by the Japanese scholar Master Kitamura 喜多村氏. In 1894, the Jishan Press 積山書局 in Shanghai published the first modern edition. The Shanghai Shangwu Press 上海商務印書館 made a facsimile of a Song-period print in 1935 (the Hanfenlou Studio 涵芬樓 edition, see Hanfenlou miji 涵芬樓秘笈), which is included in the series Sibu congkan 四部叢刊. This series was reprinted in 1960 by the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局. The Taiping yulan is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

Table 1. Contents of the Taiping yulan 太平御覽
1.-15. 天部 Heaven
16.-35. 時序部 The seasons
36.-75. 地部 The earth
76.-116. 皇王部 Emperors
117.-134. 偏霸部 Hegemons
135.-154. 皇親部 Imperial relatives
155.-172. 州郡部 Administrative geography
173.-197. 居處部 Buildings
198.-202. 封建部 Regional states
203.-269. 職官部 State offices
270.-359. 兵部 Military
360.-500. 人事部 Human affairs
501.-510. 逸民部 Hermits
511.-521. 宗親部 Ancestors and relatives
522.-562. 禮儀部 Rites and etiquette
563.-584. 樂部 Music
585.-606. 文部 Literature
607.-619. 學部 Learning
620.-634. 治道部 The way of rulership
635.-652. 刑法部 Penal law
653.-658. 釋部 Buddhism
659.-679. 道部 Daoism
680.-683. Ritual tools
684.-698. 服章部 Clothing
699.-719. 服用部 Objects
720.-737. 方術部 Magic and divination
738.-743. 疾病部 Sickness and disease
744.-755. 工藝部 Handicrafts
756.-765. 器物部 Objects of daily life
766.-767. 雜物部 Miscellaneous things
768.-771. 舟部 Boats
772.-776. 車部 Carts
777.-779. 奉使部 Foreign missions
780.-801. 四夷部 The four barbarians
802.-813. 珍寶部 Jewels
814.-820. 布帛部 Textiles
821.-836. 資產部 Production
837.-842. 百榖部 The hundred grains
843.-867. 飲食部 Eating and drinking
868.-871. 火部 Fire
872.-873. 休徵部 Favourable signs
874.-880. 咎徵部 Inauspicious prognostications
881.-884. 神鬼部 Deities and ghosts
885.-888. 妖異部 Spectres and strange things
889.-913. 獸部 Hairy animals
914.-928. 羽族部 Feathered animals
929.-943. 鱗介部 Scaly animals
944.-951. 蟲豸部 Worms, insects and small animals
952.-961. 木部 Trees
962.-962. 竹部 Bamboos
964.-975. 果部 Fruits
976.-980. 菜部 Vegetables
981.-983. 香部 Perfumes
984.-993. 藥部 Medicine
994.-1000. 百卉部 The hundred herbs and flowers
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