Book of Governance from the Treasury of Learning

Author: Wei Zheng [Tang Dynasty]
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The Essentials of Governance from Books (hereinafter referred to as The Essentials) is a monumental work on governance compiled by the famous Tang Dynasty counselor Wei Zheng, along with Yu Shiren and Chu Suiliang, at the command of Emperor Taizong of Tang (reigned 599–649, 626–649). It was created to collect and compile the works of predecessors as admonitions, providing lessons for Emperor Taizong’s policies of “reducing military and promoting culture” and “governing the state and securing the realm,” thereby contributing to the establishment of the “Reign of Zhenguan.” The Essentials draws its materials from the Six Classics, the Four Histories, and the Hundred Schools of Thought, covering “from the Five Emperors to the Jin Dynasty.” With the purpose of “focusing on governance techniques and preserving admonitions,” it meticulously selected and condensed over 14,000 ancient texts and 89,000 volumes, spending years of painstaking effort to compile the work into 65 volumes, totaling over 500,000 words, by the fifth year of the Zhenguan era (631). The characteristic of The Essentials of Governance from Books can be summarized in one word: “extensive yet essential.” Wei Zheng and his collaborators extensively collected 65 types of classics, history, and philosophy texts, adhering to the principles of “focusing on governance techniques” and “rooting in the essentials,” pruning the superfluous and selecting the essence to condense it into a precious 50-volume edition. Wei Zheng was a great national talent, combining noble morals with outstanding historical insight, which made The Essentials of Governance from Books a classic work that “can be used in the present age to reflect on the past; passed down to future generations, it can serve as a legacy for posterity.”