New Discovery of Seventeen Volumes of the Yongle Dadian Abroad

Author: Xu Zhongyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The Yongle Encyclopedia was compiled in Nanjing during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yongle personally formulated a grand editorial purpose, which stated, "All books from the beginning of writing, including historical records, classics, philosophy, and the works of various schools, as well as discussions on astronomy, geography, yin-yang, medicine, divination, Buddhism, Taoism, and craftsmanship, should be compiled into one book without being deterred by its vastness." He ordered the compilation of the "Great Compendium of Documents and Chronicles" by 147 scholars, including Jie Zhen, who served as the Vice President of the Right Spring Studio and a member of the Hanlin Academy, among others. They completed the work in just one year. Emperor Yongle believed that "what was compiled was still incomplete" and did not meet the original editorial intention of "comprehensively compiling into one book without being deterred by its vastness." Therefore, in the third year of the Yongle era, he decided to revise it. The court officials, including Yao Guangxiao (Vice President of the Crown Prince), Zheng Xi (Minister of Rites), and Jie Zhen, were appointed as supervisors. They gathered approximately 3,000 scholars from all walks of life, including learned scholars, elderly Confucian scholars, and high-ranking monks and Taoist masters, to undertake tasks such as editing, reviewing, proofreading, copying, drawing, and annotating. They utilized the entire collection of the imperial library, the Wenyuan Pavilion, and sent people to collect books from all over the country. Throughout the compilation process, both human and material resources were fully guaranteed.