China

The contribution from the East to the history of encyclopaedias is distinctive and covers a longer period than that of the West. The Chinese have produced encyclopaedias for approximately 2,000 years, but traditionally they differ from the modern Western encyclopaedia in that they are mainly anthologies of significant literature with some elements of the dictionary. Compiled by scholars of eminence, they have been revised rather than replaced over hundreds of years. In the main, they followed a classified form of arrangement; very often their chief use was to aid candidates for the civil service. The first known Chinese encyclopaedia, the Huanglan (“Imperial Anthology”), was prepared by order of the emperor about AD 220. No part of this work has survived. Part of the Bianzhu (“Stringed Pearls of Literature”), prepared about 600, is still extant. About 620 the Yiwen leiju (“Anthology of Art and Literature”) was prepared by Ouyang Xun (557–641) in 100 chapters divided into 47 sections. The Beitang shuchao (“Extracts for Books”) of Yu Shinan (558–638) was more substantial and paid particular attention to details of the organization of public administration. An annotated edition, edited by Kong Guangdao, was published in 1880.

The Chuxueji (“Entry into Learning”) was a modest work compiled about 700 by Xujian (659–729) and his colleagues. A more important book was the Tongdian (“Comprehensive Statutes”) compiled by Du Yu (735–812), a writer on government and economics. Completed about 801, it contained nine sections: economics, examinations and degrees, government, rites and ceremonies, music, the army, law, political geography, national defense. In 1273 it was supplemented by Ma Duanlin’s enormous and highly regarded Wenxian tongkao (“General Study of the Literary Remains”), which included a good bibliography. Supplements to this work were published in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. Under the order of the second Song emperor, Song Taizong, the statesman Li Fang organized the compilation of the vast Taiping yulan (“Imperially Inspected Anthology of the Taiping Era”; see Researcher’s Note: Taiping yulan), which included extracts from many works of literary and scientific standing that are no longer extant. In 1568–72 the Taiping yulan was revised and reprinted from movable type; a new edition revised by Yuanyuan appeared in 1812. The Cefu yuangui (c. 1013), particularly strong in historical and biographical subjects, was almost as large as the Taiping yulan.

The historian Zheng Qiao (1108–66) compiled the Tongzhi (“General Treatises”), an original work with a strong personal contribution; the printed edition (1747) was in 118 volumes. One of the richest and most important of all Chinese encyclopaedias, the Yuhai (“Sea of Jade”), was compiled about 1267 by the renowned Song scholar Wang Yinglin (1223–92) and was reprinted in 240 volumes in 1738.

What was probably the largest encyclopaedia ever compiled, the Yongle dadian (“The Great Canon of the Yongle Era”), was issued at the beginning of the 15th century. Unfortunately, only a very small part of its 22,937 chapters has survived; these were published in 1963. A number of small encyclopaedias were issued in the 16th century, but the next important event was the publication of the small but profusely illustrated Sancai tuhui (1607–09), compiled by Wang Qi and his son Wang Siyi. In 1704–11 the Chinese literary encyclopaedia Peiwen yunfu was compiled by order of the emperor Kangxi; this was supplemented by the Yunfu shiyi (1720). Other works ordered by the emperor include the Bianzi leibian (1726) and the Zishi jinghua (1727). In 1726 the huge Gujin tushu jicheng (“Collection of Pictures and Writings”) was published by order of the emperor. Edited by the scholar Chen Menglei, it filled more than 750,000 pages and attempted to embody the whole of the Chinese cultural heritage.

At the turn of the century, a number of encyclopaedias were issued. Wang Qi’s Shiwu yuanhui, which covered well over 2,000 topics, was compiled in 1796. Lu Fengzuo’s Xiaozhilu (1804) is particularly valuable for its attention to technical terms, which previous works had ignored. Chen Wei’s Jingzhuan II (1804) concentrated on history and the great Chinese classics, whereas Wang Chenglie’s Qiming jishu (1806) is stronger in biographical material. Dai Zhaochun compiled the Sishu wujing leidian jicheng (1887), a historical work for the use of civil-service candidates. Wei Song’s Yishi jishi (1888) had actually been compiled 65 years previously, but it paid far more attention to practical matters. The Jiutongtong (1902) of Liu Keyi was in large measure a reassembly of material in the older encyclopaedias in a more efficient classification. A more important work of the period is the largely historical and biographical Ershisishi jiu tong zhengdian leiyao hebian (1902). The Qingchao xu wenxian tongkao (1905), compiled by Liu Jinzao, was revised and enlarged in 400 volumes in 1921. It includes contemporary material on fiscal, administrative, and industrial affairs and gives some attention to technical matters. Lu Erkui’s Ciyuan (1915), with a supplement issued in 1931, was the first really modern Chinese encyclopaedia and set the style for nearly all later works of this nature.

In 1980, officials of the Greater Encyclopedia of China Publishing House and Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., announced an agreement under which the Micropædia of the 15th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica would be translated into Chinese for distribution in China. The 10-volume set for this project, The Concise Encyclopædia Britannica, was published serially in 1985–86. A 20-volume revised edition, Encyclopædia Britannica International Chinese Edition, was published in 1999 and substantially revised in 2007.

Japan

In the Edo, or Tokugawa, era (1603–1867) there appeared a kind of encyclopaedia that consisted of extracts of major works in Japanese and Chinese. Kojiruien (51 volumes, 1879–1914) and Nihon-hyakka-daijiten, or the “Great Japanese Encyclopaedia” (10 volumes, 1908–19) were somewhat more akin to modern encyclopaedias but were mostly compilations of scientific works. More complete general encyclopaedias appeared in the Showa period (1926–89); Dai-hyakka (28 volumes, 1931–35), Kokumin-hyakka (15 volumes, 1934–37), Sekai-daihyakka (24 volumes, 1955–68), and Japonica (19 volumes, 1967–72) are examples of well-compiled works. The Buritanika Kokusai Dai Hyakka Jiten, or Britannica International Encyclopædia (29 volumes), which began publication in 1972 and was completed in 1975, was the joint creation of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., and the Tokyo Broadcasting System acting together as TBS/Britannica Company, Tokyo. Unlike most Japanese-language encyclopaedias, which consisted largely of simple short entries, its main body consisted of 20 volumes of lengthy systematic entries (the main body was fully revised in 1988). Other sections of the four-part set included a six-volume reference guide, consisting of many thousands of short factual entries; a reader’s guide; a study guide; and an index. There were also supplemental yearbooks. After 2006 the encyclopaedia was available solely in electronic form, as Encyclopædia Britannica Online Japan.

The Arab world

The early encyclopaedias written in Arabic can be roughly divided into two classes: those designed for people who wished to be well informed and to make full use of their cultural heritage, and those for the rapidly growing number of official administrators. The latter type of encyclopaedia originated when the Arabs established their rule through so many parts of the Mediterranean region. The first true encyclopaedia was the work of Ibn Qutaybah (828–889), a teacher and philologist, who dealt with his topics by quoting traditional aphorisms, historical examples, and old Arabic poems. The arrangement and contents of his Kitāb ʿuyūn al-akhbār (“The Book of Choice Narratives”) set the pattern for many later encyclopaedias. The 10 books were arranged in the following order: power, war, nobility, character, learning and eloquence, asceticism, friendship, prayers, food, women. Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih of Córdoba improved on Ibn Qutaybah’s work in his ʿIqd al-farīd (“The Precious Necklace”) by including more contemporary items of note.

What has often mistakenly been referred to as the first encyclopaedia, the Mafātīḥ al-ʿUlūm (“Keys to the Sciences”), was compiled in 975–997 by the Persian scholar and statesman al-Khwārizmī, who was well aware of the content of the more important Greek writings. He divided his work into two sections: indigenous knowledge (jurisprudence, scholastic philosophy, grammar, secretarial duties, prosody and poetic art, history) and foreign knowledge (philosophy, logic, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, mechanics, alchemy). The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (“Brethren of Purity”), a religious or political party founded at Al-Baṣrah in the 10th century, published the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ wa khillān al-wafāʾ (“Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends”), a remarkable work that consisted of 52 pamphlets written by five authors, comprising all the knowledge available in their milieu. The work included (1) mathematics, geography, music, logic, and ethics; (2) the natural sciences and philosophy; (3) metaphysics; and (4) religion, astrology, and magic. A complete edition was published in 1887–89.

The Egyptian historian and civil servant al-Nuwayrī (1272–1332) compiled one of the best-known encyclopaedias of the Mamlūk period, the Nihāyat al-arab fī funūn al-adab (“The Aim of the Intelligent in the Art of Letters”), a work of almost 9,000 pages. It comprised: (1) geography, astronomy, meteorology, chronology, geology; (2) man (anatomy, folklore, conduct, politics); (3) zoology; (4) botany; (5) history. A complete edition was issued in 1923. The Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār (“Paths of Discernment in the Realms of the Great Cities”) of al-ʿUmarī (1301–48) was chiefly strong on history, geography, and poetry. A third Egyptian, al-Qalqashandī (1355/56–1418), compiled a more important and well-organized encyclopaedia, Ṣubḥ al-aʿshā (“The Dawn for the Blind”), that covered geography, political history, natural history, zoology, mineralogy, cosmography, and time measurement. Al-Ibshīhī (1388–c. 1446) compiled a very individual encyclopaedia, the Mustaṭraf fī kull fann mustaẓraf (“A Quest for Attainment in Each Fine Art”), that covered the Islamic religion, conduct, law, spiritual qualities, work, natural history, music, food, and medicine. At the turn of the Arab fortunes, al-Ibshīhī had recapitulated all that was best in their culture.

The Persian jurist Dawānī (1427–1502/03) published a kind of encyclopaedia, entitled Unmūdhaj al-ʿulūm (“Program of the Sciences”), that consisted of documented questions and answers and technical inventions on a very wide range of subjects. Al-Shīrazī (died 1542) soon issued a refutation to it, the Maqālat al-radd ʿalā unmūdag ʿalā unmūdhaj al-ʿulūm al-jalāliyyah (“Treatise on the Refutation of Jalāl [al-Dīn Dawānī’s] Unmūdhaj al-ʿulūm”). The Majmaʿ multaqā al-zuhūr bī rawḍah min al-manẓūm wa al manthūr (1524; “Collection of Tangled Flowers in the Garden of Poetry and Prose”) of al-Ḥanafī comprised an encyclopaedic survey and description of the various branches of knowledge, with an appendix containing an alphabetical list of the names of God. In Lebanon, Buṭrus al-Bustānī and his sons compiled the Dāʾirat al-maʿārif (1876–1900; “The Circle of Knowledge”). A second edition (1923–25) was prepared by Muḥammad Farīd Wajdī, and a third edition was begun by Fuʾād Afrām al-Bustānī in 1956. Arabic encyclopaedias, both general and topical, were widely available by the start of the 21st century.