Whole Han Dynasty

Author: (Qing) Yan Kejun (compiled) / Xu Zhensheng (reviewed)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1999-10-01
Features: This book is one volume of Complete Ancient and Medieval Chinese Literature (hereinafter referred to as Complete Literature). Complete Literature was compiled by Yan Kejun of the Qing Dynasty and is divided into fifteen volumes: Complete Ancient, Medieval, and Qin-Han-Six Dynasties Literature, Complete Qin Literature, Complete Han Literature, Complete Later Han Literature, Complete Three Kingdoms Literature, Complete Jin Literature, Complete Southern and Northern Dynasties Literature, Complete Qi Literature, Complete Liang Literature, Complete Chen Literature, Complete Northern Wei Literature, Complete Northern Qi Literature, Complete Northern Zhou Literature, Complete Sui Literature, and Complete Pre-Tang Literature. It includes the works of 3,490 authors (or 3,502 individuals) before the Tang Dynasty, each accompanied by a brief biography. It is the most comprehensive collection of pre-Tang literature to date and holds immense academic value for the study of pre-Tang history, literature, religion, language, and other fields. It is also the longest literary collection in ancient Chinese literature in terms of time span.
The compilation of Complete Literature holds great significance. First, it gathers all texts from the time of writing to the Tang Dynasty, excluding historical records, philosophical treatises, poetry, and specialized works. It includes the long and short writings of scholars, masters, Buddhist and Taoist monks, as well as the words of noblewomen, leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of completeness. The compilation of Complete Literature is a monumental achievement in summarizing pre-Tang literature and has made invaluable contributions to academia and culture. It can be regarded as a grand masterpiece of extraordinary merit.
The texts compiled in Complete Literature are all annotated with their sources, facilitating reexamination and verification. In cases where multiple sources exist, they are all included, and variant readings are also recorded. This differs significantly from earlier collections such as Complete Tang Poetry and Complete Tang Literature, greatly enhancing the academic and practical value of Complete Literature and reflecting the practices of Qing Dynasty textual research.
Additionally, Yan Kejun devoted considerable effort to collecting documents, verifying authenticity, and organizing texts. For his time, he was adept at utilizing documents and had a broad scope of textual review. He not only extracted pre-Tang literature from a vast number of historical records but also extensively examined inscriptions on stone and bronze artifacts, miscellaneous records, encyclopedias, notes, ancient annotations, commentaries on classics, and even Buddhist and Taoist texts. The use of these two major Buddhist and Taoist collections, in particular, provided inspiration for the compilation of future literary collections.
Of course, as a monumental undertaking, it is inevitable that imperfections exist, such as omissions, errors, duplications, and incorrect annotations. However, these flaws do not diminish the overall excellence of the work. In this edition, we have made corrections, verifications, and distinctions within appropriate limits, which may significantly reduce these errors.
Complete Literature was not published during Yan Kejun's lifetime, primarily due to financial constraints and the complexity of the task. Although some were willing to publish it upon its completion, it never materialized. In the early years of the Guangxu era, Jiang He published the table of contents and brief biographies of the authors, making the full text difficult for scholars to access. Later, Zhang Zhidong, a scholar with a passion for literature and history, took charge of Guangdong governance and ordered his subordinate Wang Yuzaolu to oversee the project. Wang Yuzaolu, recognizing the immense value of the work, gathered twenty scholars and spent eight years, with several years dedicated to textual review, ultimately completing the book, which became known as the Wang edition. Published in Guangzhou, it is also referred to as the Yue edition.
In 1958, Zhonghua Book Company issued a photolithographic edition of the Wang edition, with Tan Dide providing punctuation and correcting some errors, which were marked in the margins. Later, an index was compiled, and most scholars today refer to this photolithographic edition.
For this edition, the Wang edition was used as the base text, with reference to relevant ancient texts, such as annotated editions of pre-Tang official histories, Wang Wenjin's annotated Tongdian, Wenxuan, and other collected works, encyclopedias, as well as philosophical, Buddhist, and Taoist texts, and Tan Dide's marginal notes and punctuation. To facilitate reading, the entire work has been divided into volumes and published in separate sets.