Complete Works of Tang Dynasty (Complete 12 Volumes)

Author: Dong Gao (Qing) and others (compilers)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1983-01-01
Features: A comprehensive collection of Tang and Five Dynasties essays compiled by the Qing imperial court. It consists of one thousand volumes. From the 13th to the 19th year of the Jiaqing reign (1808–1814), Dong Gao led over one hundred collaborators, including Ruan Yuan and Xu Song, in its compilation. The collection includes eighteen thousand, four hundred and eighty-eight essays by three thousand and forty-two 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 (Daoist priests), ladies of the court, eunuchs, and ethnic minorities, which are appended at the end. The Qing court originally possessed a manuscript of the Tang Essays in one hundred and sixty volumes (as recorded in Notes from the Yongxian Study by Chen Qiyuan, Volume 1, with compiler Chen Bangyan). Emperor Jia Zong of the Qing Dynasty found its "format inconsistent and selections unsatisfactory," ordering a revision. This book was compiled based on that manuscript, supplemented with missing or incomplete essays from Geming Yinghua and Tang Wen Cu, and additional fragments of Tang essays collected from the Yongle Dadian. It also incorporated materials from other books and inscriptions. It compiles essays from the Tang and Five Dynasties, providing scholars with convenient access to these materials. However, the book still has numerous shortcomings in compilation and textual verification, including omissions, misattributions, duplications, errors in titles and main texts, inaccuracies in biographical notes, and the lack of citations for sources used. In his Annotations on this book (see Lao's Miscellaneous Notes on Reading and Cen's Records of Tang Dynasty Names), Qing scholar Lao Ge and modern scholar Cen Zhongmian pointed out approximately four to five hundred such issues.