New Discovery Abroad: The Yongle Dadian (Seventeen Volumes)

Author: Xu Zhongyi, Yu Lan
Editor-in-Chief:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
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 weary of its vastness." He ordered the compilation of the "Great Work of Literature and Documents" with 147 scholars, including Jie Zhen, as the chief compilers, who completed the task in just one year. Emperor Yongle believed that "what was compiled was still incomplete" and did not meet the original editorial goal of "completing the compilation into one book without being weary of its vastness." Therefore, in the third year of the Yongle era, he decided to revise it. The court officials, including Yao Guangxiao (Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent), Zheng Xi (Minister of Rites), and Jie Zhen, were appointed as supervisors. They gathered approximately 3,000 scholars from all walks of life, including scholars, elderly Confucian scholars, high monks, and Taoist masters, to undertake tasks such as editing, reviewing, proofreading, copying, drawing, and annotating. The entire imperial library, Wen Yuan Ge, was utilized, and people were sent to various places to collect books. Throughout the compilation process, both human and material resources were fully guaranteed.