Tongzhi (encyclopedia)

The Tongzhi ('Comprehensive records') is a Chinese general knowledge encyclopedia completed in 1161 by Zheng Qiao (鄭樵), a scholar during the Song dynasty.

The contents include basic annals, yearly chronicles, hereditary houses, ranked biographies, and twenty monographs (lüe 略) on various topics, the last of which are considered the most original part.

[2] The twenty monographs, which comprise 52 volumes, deal with clans, the six classes of characters, phonetics, astronomy, geography, capital cities, rituals, posthumous names, vessels and robes, music, official titles, the examination system, punishment, food and money, arts and literature, collation, images, metal and stone, disasters and fortunes, insects and plants.

The chapter on images (Tu pu lüe 图谱略) has attracted considerable interest among art theorists.

[3] The chapter on arts and literature (Yi wen lüe 藝文略) has the most detailed bibliographic scheme in pre-modern China.

A page from a Yuan dynasty printed edition of the Tongzhi