Kaogongji

The Kaogongji, Kaogong Ji,[1] or Kao Gong Ji,[2] variously translated as The Record of Trades, Records of Examination of Craftsman, Book of Diverse Crafts,[citation needed] and The Artificers' Record,[3] is an ancient Chinese work on science and technology in China.

It was compiled sometime during the 5th century BCE[4] or 300 BCE[1] and then included as a section of the Rites of Zhou under the Han as a replacement for the lost text concerning the Offices of Winter concerning public works.

The Kaogongji is the oldest known technical encyclopedia,[5] particularly noted for its early discussion of Chinese urban planning.

It has been suggested that the Kaogongji "may have been written by an administrator to assure the emperor that everything was under control.

[1] The book includes "enigmatic" recipes for metal-making; in 2022, researchers reanalyzed its mention jin and xi, key components for making bronze thought for centuries to have been copper and tin, as possibly referring instead to premade alloys of uncertain composition.