The Yongle Dadian : The Ming Encyclopaedia

This lecture on Monday night in Aberdeen may be of interest.

Friends of Aberdeen University Library, The Aberdeen University Chinese Studies Group, and Marischal Evening Lecture Series : Monday 16 March in The Old Senate Room, King’s College at 7.30 p.m.

David Helliwell, Curator of the Chinese Collections, The Bodleian Library, Oxford will give a talk on The Yongle Dadian : The Ming Encyclopaedia

"The manuscript is a single fascicle from the famous Chinese encyclopaedia Yongle dadian, one of the biggest bibliographical enterprises ever undertaken in any civilisation. It originated in a decision taken by the third Ming emperor during the first year of his reign to preserve all known literature. The project had a team of 147 assistants, and the first manuscript was presented to the throne in December 1404, but the emperor considered it insufficient. He therefore appointed a team of two co-directors and a further 2,169 scholars to continue the work, which was completed in 1408. The encyclopaedia consisted of a total 22,877 jüan (chapters) in 11,095 large volumes, sumptuously executed on fine white paper ruled in vermilion, and bound in hard boards covered with yellow silk. In 1562 the order was given to produce a copy, and this was completed in 1567 by a team of over 100 scholars. When the Boxer rebels attacked the Legation Quarter in Peking in 1900, the Hanlin Academy (which was situated there) was burned down, and almost all that remained of Yongle dadian was destroyed except for some 60 or so volumes, and a few dozen that those of the western allies who were aware of its importance were able to pluck from the flames. In 1960, a reproduction of all extant parts of Yongle dadian was published in Peking, a total of 730 jüan. A further 67 jüan subesequently came to light, and were included in a second reproduction published in 1986.

The Aberdeen Volume (MS 1143) is in Special Libraries & Archives, a description of which was supplied after examination of text by David Helliwell of the Bodleian Library in 1999. It was gifted in 1922 by Sir James Russell Brazier, (fl 1875-1921), an orientalist, who rescued the manuscript from the Academy fire of 1900."