Chinese classic texts or canonical texts or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC,particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian tradition,themselves a customary abridgment of the "Thirteen Classics". All of these pre-Qin texts were written in classical Chinese. All three canons are collectively known as the classics.
Jinshi was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace,and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referred to in English-language sources as Imperial Scholars.
Southern Tang was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period,which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang Dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. At its territorial peak in 951,the Southern Tang controlled the whole of modern Jiangxi,and portions of Anhui,Fujian,Hubei,Hunan,and Jiangsu provinces.
The Siku Quanshu,variously translated as the Complete Library in Four Sections,Imperial Collection of Four,Emperor's Four Treasuries,Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature or Complete Library of the Four Treasuries,is the largest collection of books in Chinese history. The complete encyclopedia contains an annotated catalogue of 10,680 titles along with a compendiums of 3,593 titles. The Siku Quanshu ended up even longer than the Ming dynasty's Yongle Encyclopedia of 1403,which had been China's largest encyclopedia until then. A complete copy of the Siku Quanshu are held with each of the following:the National Library of China in Beijing,the National Palace Museum in Taipei,the Gansu Library in Lanzhou,and the Zhejiang Library in Hangzhou.
The Book of Song is a historical text of the Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties of China. It covers history from 420 to 479,and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories,a traditional collection of historical records. It was written in 492–493 by Shen Yue from the Southern Qi dynasty (479–502).
The Four Great Books of Song was compiled by a team of scholars during the Song dynasty (960–1279). The term was coined after the last book was finished during the 11th century. The four encyclopedias were published and intended to collect the whole knowledge of the new state.
Cefu Yuangui (冊府元龜) is the largest leishu (encyclopedia) compiled during the Chinese Song Dynasty (AD 960–1279). It was the last of the Four Great Books of Song,the previous three having been published in the 10th century.
The Taiping Guangji,sometimes translated as the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era,or Extensive Records of the Taiping Xinguo Period,is a collection of stories compiled in the early Song dynasty. The work was completed in 978,and printing blocks were cut,but it was prevented from publication on the grounds that it contained only xiaoshuo and thus "was of no use to young students." It survived in manuscript until it was published in the Ming dynasty. It is considered one of the Four Great Books of Song (宋四大書). The title refers to the Taiping Xinguo era,the first years of the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song.
The Wenyuan Yinghua,sometimes translated as Finest Blossoms in the Garden of Literature,is an anthology of poetry,odes,songs and writings from the Liang dynasty to the Five Dynasties era.
The leishu is a genre of reference books historically compiled in China and other East Asian countries. The term is generally translated as "encyclopedia",although the leishu are quite different from the modern notion of encyclopedia.
The Book of Chen or Chen Shu was the official history of the Chen dynasty,one of the Southern Dynasties of China. The Book of Chen is part of the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was compiled by the Tang dynasty historian Yao Silian and completed in 636 AD. The Chen Shu is a biographical history book with thirty-six volumes,recording the historical facts of 33 years from the accession of Chen Baxian to the last emperor Chen Shubao.
The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清),also known as Supreme Clarity or Highest Clarity is a Daoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was a woman,Wei Huacun (251-334). According to her Shangqing hagiographers,her devotion to Daoist cultivation so impressed a number of immortals that she received revelations from them 31 volumes of Daoist scriptures which would become the foundation of Shangqing Daoism. Later,Tao Hongjing,a man,(456－536) structured the theory and practice and compiled the canon. He greatly contributed to the development of the school that took place near the end of the 5th century. The mountain near Nanjing where Tao Hongjing had his retreat,Maoshan,today remains the principal seat of the school.
Chinese encyclopedias comprise both Chinese-language encyclopedias and foreign-language ones about China or Chinese topics. There is a type of native Chinese reference work called leishu that is sometimes translated as "encyclopedia",but although these collections of quotations from classic texts are expansively "encyclopedic",a leishu is more accurately described as a "compendium" or "anthology". The long history of Chinese encyclopedias began with the Huanglanleishu and continues with online encyclopedias such as the Baike Encyclopedia.
The History of Liao,or Liao Shi,is a Chinese historical book compiled officially by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368),under the direction of the historian Toqto'a (Tuotuo),and finalized in 1344. Based on Khitan's primary sources and other previous official Chinese records,it details the Khitan people,Khitan's tribal life and traditions,as well as the official histories of the Liao dynasty and its successor,the Western Liao dynasty.
The Wen Xuan,usually translated Selections of Refined Literature,is one of the earliest and most important anthologies of Chinese poetry and literature,and is one of the world's oldest literary anthologies to be arranged by topic. It is a selection of what were judged to be the best poetic and prose pieces from the late Warring States period to the early Liang dynasty,excluding the Chinese Classics and philosophical texts. The Wen Xuan preserves most of the greatest fu rhapsody and shi poetry pieces from the Qin and Han dynasties,and for much of pre-modern history was one of the primary sources of literary knowledge for educated Chinese.
The Taiping Huanyu Ji,or "Universal Geography of the Taiping Era [976-983]," is a 10th-century AD geographical treatise by Chinese scholar Yue Shi 樂史(930-1007),written during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song in the Northern Song Dynasty. Comprising 200 scrolls,it has entries for nearly all areas of China at the time of its publication,complete with place-names and their etymologies. The work generally follows Tang Dynasty systems of geographical and political designation,dividing China into 13 "Circuits",and then subdividing further into the more traditional "prefectures" and "counties". Because it is largely based on Tang works,it constitutes an important source for the study of Tang geography.
Meng Xuanzhe (孟玄喆) (937–991),courtesy name Zunsheng (遵聖),formally the Duke of Teng (滕國公),was a crown prince of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Later Shu under his father Meng Chang,the last emperor of the state. After Later Shu was destroyed by Song Dynasty,Meng Xuanzhe served as a general and official for Song.
Xu You,was a Chinese official most active in the Southern Tang dynasty as a court minister,royal tutor,and artist. A member of the Xu family,comprising many government officials and civil servants,and descendant of Emperor Wu,he served as the Grand Guardian of Li Yu and enjoyed a close relationship with the royal family.
The Huanglan or Imperial Mirror was the oldest Chinese encyclopedia or leishu "classified dictionary". Cao Pi,the first emperor of the Wei,ordered its compilation upon his accession to the throne in 220 and it was completed in 222. The purpose of the Huanglan was to provide the emperor and ministers of state with conveniently arranged summaries of all that was known at the time. Complete versions of the Huanglan existed until the Song dynasty (960-1279),when it became a lost work,although some quotations did survive in other encyclopedias and anthologies. The Huanglan was the prototype of the classified encyclopedia and served as a model for later ones such as the (624) Tang Yiwen Leiju and the (1408) Ming Yongle dadian.
Xu is a Chinese surname. In the Wade-Giles system of romanization,it is rendered as Hsu,which is commonly used in Taiwan. It is different from Xu,represented by a different character.
