Cefu Yuangui

Cefu Yuangui (simplified Chinese: 册府元龟; traditional Chinese: 冊府元龜; pinyin: Cèfǔ Yuánguī; literally: "Book Prefecture First Tortoise") was the largest leishu (encyclopedia) compiled during the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD). It was the last of the Four Great Books of Song, the previous three encyclopedias published in the 10th century. English titles for this encyclopedia are Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau, The Magic Mirror in the Palace of Books, Archival Palace as the Great Oracle, General Preface on Outer Ministers, Outstanding Models from the Storehouse of Literature, and Models from the Archives.

The encyclopedia was originally named Narrative of Monarchs and Officials in the Past Dynasties but was later renamed to Yuangui, meaning the oracle tortoise shells, and Cefu, the imperial's storehouse of literature. The work was started in 1005 and finished in 1013 by Wang Qinruo and numerous other scholars. It was one of the four books that were divided into 1,000 volumes. It was almost twice as large as the Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era and was ranked second in the Siku Quanshu collections. It consisted of about 9.4 million words (or Chinese characters), which included many political essays, biographies of rulers and subjects, memorials, and decrees.

See also

• Chinese literature
• Chinese classic texts
• Culture of the Song Dynasty

References

• Hu, Wenjie, Cefu Yuangui ("Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau"). Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
• Kurz, Johannes. "The Compilation and Publication of the Taiping yulan and the Cefu yuangui", in Florence Bretelle-Establet and Karine Chemla (eds.), Qu'est-ce qu'écrire une encyclopédie en Chine?. Extreme Orient-Extreme Occident Hors série (2007), 39-76.

External links

• Cefu yuangui "The Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau" — Chinaknowledge.de.