Great Wall Encyclopaedia: Biology (Complete Three Volumes)

Author: Editorial Department of the China Encyclopedia Press
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-09-01
Features: The China Encyclopedia is a large-scale, comprehensive encyclopedia. China has a long tradition of compiling reference works. Over two thousand years, more than four hundred types of reference works have been published. These works are treasures of China's cultural heritage, systematically collecting, organizing, and preserving important materials from the scientific and cultural classics of various dynasties. Some earlier reference works have been lost, but many have been preserved or partially preserved to this day, valued by scholars in China and around the world. While various reference works differ in structure, some come close to the type of encyclopedia, yet they are not modern encyclopedias. In the mid-18th century, as China was compiling the massive Siku Quanshu, encyclopedias of modern type were published successively in France, Germany, England, Italy, and other Western European countries. Later, the United States, Russia, Japan, and other countries also followed suit. Modern encyclopedias concisely summarize the knowledge and history of humanity and emphasize the latest achievements in contemporary science and culture. Over the past two centuries, the experience of compiling encyclopedias has been accumulated, with improvements in knowledge classification, editorial methods, illustration, and indexing systems, making them increasingly complete and scientific. Today, encyclopedias play a crucial role in cultural activities, and various types of encyclopedias have become necessities in daily life, much like dictionaries. The Chinese intellectual community, with a long tradition of compiling reference works, has long set the goal of editing modern encyclopedias. In the early 20th century, several small, practical encyclopedias were attempted, including the Cishu, which was similar to an encyclopedia in form. However, none of these met the requirements of modern encyclopedias.
At the beginning of the People's Republic of China, the then-Publishing Supervisory Commission considered publishing a Chinese encyclopedia, and the subsequent 12-year plan for scientific and cultural development also included the compilation and publication of encyclopedias. In 1958, a plan to carry out this work was proposed, but it was not realized. It was not until 1978 that the State Council decided to compile and publish the China Encyclopedia and established the China Encyclopedia Press to oversee the project. As China's first encyclopedia, the compilation process was inevitably challenging. However, due to the urgent demand from scholars, it was not feasible to wait for the collection of relatively complete materials from all disciplines before starting the compilation. Nor was it possible to wait for all entries to be written before compiling the entire work in alphabetical order. Instead, experts and scholars from across the country were invited to write entries by discipline, with each discipline published as a separate volume. This approach allowed the encyclopedia to be released in installments. While this method inevitably introduced some drawbacks, it was the only viable option under the circumstances. We plan to adopt the common practice of modern encyclopedias in the second edition, arranging all entries in alphabetical order rather than by discipline, making it easier for readers to find and consult information.
The China Encyclopedia first edition is organized by discipline, with entries within each discipline arranged alphabetically, supplemented by a stroke index and other indexes for easier reference. The content of the China Encyclopedia covers various disciplines and fields, including philosophy, social sciences, literature and arts, culture and education, natural sciences, and engineering technology. It is preliminarily planned to have 80 volumes, with each volume containing approximately 1.2 to 1.5 million words (including illustrations and indexes), and the entire set is scheduled to be completed in about a decade. The first edition will have more volumes and words than most foreign general encyclopedias but will be comparable in length to the initial editions of some foreign encyclopedias. We plan to adjust and condense the content in the second edition.
The China Encyclopedia is published in volumes by discipline, without numbered volumes. Each volume is simply labeled with the discipline name, such as Philosophy, Law, Mechanics, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, and so on. The content of each discipline is written in the form of entries, following the system and hierarchy of the discipline itself, with a planned total of about 100,000 entries. The entries provide detailed descriptions and introductions to the fundamental knowledge of each discipline, making them suitable for readers with high school education or above, equivalent to university-level knowledge. This encyclopedic reference tool serves as a bridge and stepping stone for readers to enter and explore each discipline in greater depth and breadth.