Chinese encyclopedia
"categorized writings") that is sometimes translated as "encyclopedia", but although these collections of quotations from classic texts are expansively "encyclopedic", a leishu is more accurately described as a "compendium" or "anthology".
"hundred subjects") in the words bǎikēquánshū 百科全書 (with "comprehensive book") and bǎikēcídiǎn 百科辭典 (with "dictionary") specifically refer to Western-style "encyclopedias".
The German sinologist Wolfgang Bauer describes the historical parallel between Western encyclopedias and Chinese leishu, all of which arose from two roots, glossaries and anthologies or florilegia.
The boundaries between both are quite fluid at first; the shorter the entries and the more exclusively they are directed to the definition of the word concerned, the more the work partakes of the character of a dictionary, while a longer commentary delving into history and culture and provided with extensive quotations of sources is, conversely, more characteristic of the encyclopaedia.
The dividing line between a language lexicon (such as glossaries, onomastica and rhyming dictionaries) and a factual lexicon, to which all general and special encyclopaedias belong, is only clearly drawn when, in addition to the definitions, necessarily supported by literary references, an interpretation appears which takes into consideration not only the current literary usage but also the thing itself, which not only describes the subject but also, at times, evaluates and thereby forms a true connection between the new and the old.
For instance, the (1726) Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China contained an estimated 3 to 4 times the amount of material in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.
An important new type of leishu encyclopedia appeared in the early Tang dynasty (618–907), after the administration made the imperial examination obligatory for all applicants into government service.
The 668 Fayuan Zhulin ("Forest of Gems in the Garden of the Dharma") was a Chinese Buddhist encyclopedia compiled by the monk Dao Shi 道世.
The Golden Age of encyclopedia writing began with the Song dynasty (960–1279), "when the venerated past became the general standard in Chinese thought for almost one whole millennium".
Another notable Song leishu encyclopedia was the polymath Shen Kuo's 1088 Mengxi Bitan ("Dream Pool Essays"), which covers many realms of the humanities and natural sciences.
The 1161 Tongzhi ("Comprehensive Records"), which was compiled by the Southern Song dynasty scholar Zheng Qiao 鄭樵, became a model for later encyclopedias.
The 1627 Diagrams and explanations of the wonderful machines of the Far West was an illustrated encyclopedia of Western mechanical devices translated into Chinese by the Jesuit Johann Schreck and the scholar Wang Zheng 王徵.
In Ming China, with the spreading of written knowledge to strata outside the literati, household riyong leishu 日用類書 ("Encyclopedias for daily use") began to be compiled, "summarizing practical information for townsfolk and others not primarily concerned with mastering the Confucian heritage.
This colossal collection contained some 800 million Chinese characters, and remained the world's largest encyclopedia until recently being surpassed by the English Wikipedia.
The 1773 Vân đài loại ngữ ("Categorized Sayings from the Library") is a Chinese-language Vietnamese encyclopedia compiled by the scholar Lê Quý Đôn.
Present-day Chinese encyclopedias—in the common Western sense of "comprehensive reference work covering a wide range of subjects"—include both printed editions and online encyclopedias.
