Complete Collection of Tang Dynasty Writings

Author: Dong Gao et al. (Qing Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-06-01
Features: A comprehensive collection of Tang and Five Dynasties essays compiled by the Qing imperial court. It comprises one thousand volumes. From the 13th to the 19th year of the Jiaqing reign (1808–1814), Dong Gao led the compilation, with over one hundred scholars including Ruan Yuan and Xu Song participating. The collection includes 18,488 essays by 3,042 authors, each accompanied by a short biography. The arrangement prioritizes essays by the emperors of the Tang and Five Dynasties, followed by empresses, princes, princesses, authors from various dynasties, monks and (Buddhists and Taoists), ladies of the court, eunuchs, and ethnic minorities, which are appended at the end. The Qing court originally possessed a manuscript of the Tang Wen (Tang Essays) in 160 volumes (as recorded in Yongxian Zhai Biji by Chen Qiyuan, Volume 1, with compiler Chen Bangyan), but Emperor Jiaqing deemed its "format inconsistent and selections unsatisfactory," ordering a revision. This book was compiled based on that manuscript, supplemented by other comprehensive collections such as Wenyuan Yinghua and Tang Wen Cu, and additional fragments of Tang essays were collated from the Yongle Dadian. It also incorporated materials from other books and inscriptions. The collection gathers essays from the Tang and Five Dynasties, providing scholars with convenient access to these materials. However, the book still has numerous flaws in compilation and textual verification, including omissions, errors, duplications, incorrect author attributions, discrepancies between titles and main texts, inaccurate biographical details, and unattributed sources. In the Annotations of this book (see Lao's Dushu Zaoshi and Cen's Tang Xingdi Lulu), scholars Lao Ge and modern scholar Cen Zhongmian pointed out approximately four to five hundred such issues.