The Workmanship of Ancient Chinese Books
Selected Content and Editing Format of Ancient Books
In general, the editing format of ancient Chinese books can be divided into two kinds. One is co-editing presided by the government. Many books, such as Yongle Encyclopedia, Siku Quanshu and others are co-compiled. The other is individual editing by the author or editor. Likewise, numerous books are individually-compiled like The Records of the Grand Historian, The Articles of the Whole Ancient Times,Three Generations,Qin and Han Dynasty,the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties and others. A well-established routine and profuse editing consideration by generations of editors has exerted a far-reaching impact on later editing work.
The substance of ancient Chinese books is not only wide in scope but also continuously enriched and updated with the progress of time. The results are easily visible the following statistical table for ancient Chinese works by Wang Yuguang.
Statistical table for ancient Chinese works Dynasty Year Total number of works Total Volumes Average number of works per century Growth rate West Han Dynasty and before (before 25 B.C.) 747 1,033 13,029 138 Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220) 195 1,100 2,900 564 309％ Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern & Sui dynasties (220–618) 398 10,654 70,304 2,679 375％ Tang and Five Dynasties Period (618–960) 342 10,806 185,074 3,160 18％ Song Dynasty (960–1279) 319 11,519 124,919 3,611 14％ Western Xia, Liao, Jin & Yuan dynasties ( 906– 1368) 462 5,970 52,891 1,292 –64％ Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) 276 14,024 218,029 5,081 293％ Qing Dynasty （ 1616– 1911） 295 126,649 1,700,000 42,932 745％ The period before AntiJapanese War in the reign of the Republic of China (1912–1937) 25 71,680 91,378 286,720 568％
Bibliographies of ancient Chinese books compiled by the past dynasties offer a sound reflection of the substance of the works.
Formal, large-scale proofreading and cataloguing in ancient China started during the Western Han Dynasty. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, noted scholars Liu Xiang and Liu Xin (father and son) were tasked with systemizing the state book collection. The father and son team classified the books into six categories based on existing academic categories and bibliographies. The bibliography of The Han Dynasty · Bolographic Treatise roughly illustrates the classifications the father and son used. It is outlined below.
Outline—Preface
Six classical arts—9 types, namely, Yi, Shu, Shi, Li, Yue, Chunqiu, Lunyu, Xiaojing and Xiaoxue; recorded books by 129 scholars, 2,926 articles and 1 scroll of pictures.
Various Schools of thought and their exponents—10 types namely, Confucian, Dao, Yinyang, Fa, Ming, Mencius, Zongheng, Za, Nong and Xiaoshuo; recorded books by 187 scholars, 4,346 articles.
Poems—20 Quyuan-like scholars, 21 Lujia-like scholars, 25 Sunqing-like scholars, 5 types of Za Fu and Sing poetry; recorded books by 106 scholars, 1,313 articles.
Military—4 types of Quanmou, Xingshi, Yinyang and Jiqiao; recorded books by 66 scholars, 1,375 articles,44 scrolls of pictures.
Mathematics—6 types of astronomy, Lipu, Wuxing, Zhugui, Zazhan and Xingfa; recorded books by 110 scholars, 2,557 articles.
Science—4 types of Yijing, Jingfang, Fangzhong and Shenxian; recorded books by 36 scholars, 862 articles.
In total, there were records for 13,397 books in 38 types and 6 categories, written by 634 scholars and 45 scrolls of pictures.
The Six Classical Arts refers to Confucian classic works and basic readings on the “six meridians.” Among the most significant are “Paying Supreme Tribute to Confucianism” in the Han Dynasty; “The philosophers outside the Confucians” the selected readings of Confucius and other ancient Chinese classics in pre-Qin Days. “Sing poetry” refers to the poetry just as the name implies, which was a popular style during the Han Dynasty, which led to it being singled out as a specific category. “Military” works, which were very effective in consolidating the feudal regime an age of frequent war. There were many books of this kind in the Period of Spring and Autumn and Warring States,” so it ranked above “Mathematics” and “Science.” The “Mathematics” and “Science” categories mainly refer to the works about natural and applied science. “Outline” means “the compendium of six categories” or “the compendium of all books,” which explains the significance of the six categories and their academic origins, elaborates on the interrelation and application of the six categories and, because it is equal to the total order of the book, it ranks above the six categories. The book classification roughly corresponds to the contents and academic development before the Western Han Dynasty.
After the Han Dynasty, the book classification changed according to the development of China’s publishing industry. In the early Tang Dynasty, the Bibliography of Chronicles of the Sui Dynasty, by Wei Zheng (580–643) and others, adopted “Four Classifications” of “Jing, Shi, Zi and Ji” with a supplement containing Taoist scriptures and Buddhist scriptures. In addition, there were 40 minor-catalogues: below the Four Categories: 10”Jing” catalogues, 13 “Shi” catalogues, 14 “Zi” catalogues, 3 “Ji” catalogues, 4 “Tao” and 11 “Budha” catalogues. Their specific lists were as follows:
“Jing”: Yi, Shu, Shi, Li, Yue, Chunqiu, Lunyu, Xiaojing, Chenwei Shu and Xiaoxue
“Shi”: Zhengshi, Gushi, Zashi, Bashi, Qijuzhu, Jiushi, Zhiguan, Yizhu, Xingfa, Zazhuan, Dili, Puxi and Bulu.
“Zi”: Confucianism, Dao, Fa, Ming, Mo, Zongheng, Za, Nong, Xiaoshuo, Bing, astronomy, Lisu, Wuxing, and Yifang.
“Ji”: Chuci, Bieji and Zongji.
“Supplement”: Taoist scriptures and Buddhist scriptures.
