| Note | Tushu bian 圖書編 [Tushubian] / Zhang Huang zhuan [i.e. bian] 章潢撰 [i.e. 編].
Reprint. Each page represents two leaves of the original.
T’u-shu pien [Tushu bian] 圖書編 (1613)
127 juan by Zhang Huan 章潢 (1527-1608) from Nanchang 南昌 (Jiangxi).
General encyclopaedia with many maps and tables including, to a large part, materials on the Ming period. It is divided into four sections. Juan 1-15, 經義, deal with the Confucian classics; juan 16-28, 象緯歷算, cover cosmology, astronomy, and the calendar; juan 29-67, 地理, contain a detailed geography of the Ming empire including also subjects such as border defence and foreign peoples inside and outside the Chinese border; juan 68-125, 人道, deal with the physical and moral qualities of men, with emperors and famous personalities in Chinese history, with political organisation and with all kinds of public activities classified according to the scope of operation of the Six Ministries. The last two juan are more of an appendix concerning strange phenomena, 易象類編, and directions for the writing of poetry, 詩學多識. The work was compiled between 1562 and 1577 and published after the author’s death with some additions, and with biographical materials on the author by Wan Shanglie 萬尚烈. Prefaces by the author, and by Wang Shanglie, 1613. A later edition has an additional preface by Yue Yuansheng 岳元聲, 1623. Prohibited. –- Cf. Franke, W., An introduction to the sources of Ming history, 9.2.3, p. 313. |
