an average of 40 leaves or 80 pages to the chüan, we get a total of 800,000 pages,[1] 7,200,000 columns, and (assuming that each page is filled up) 144,000,000 characters. After deducting nearly a third of this number for blank spaces in the text (the columns being frequently broken for new paragraphs, etc.), there would still remain something like 100,000,000 characters in the encyclopaedia.[2] In spite of this enormous increase of matter, the number of classes or sections was actually reduced from the 55 of the Yü Lan and the 45 of the Lei Han to 32 only. This was no doubt a wise step, as the multiplication of classes tends, after a certain point, to encumber rather than to lighten the work of reference. These 32 sections constitute the practical framework of the encyclopaedia, although they are further grouped under six main categories, corresponding roughly to (1) Heaven, (2) Earth, (3) Man, (4) Science, (5) Literature, and (6) Government; [3] so that any one who wishes to obtain some idea of the general contents and arrangement cannot do better than run through the sections, one by one.
The thirty-two sections.I. 乾象 means literally 'Celestial signs', and is translated accordingly by W. F. Mayers [4] 'The Heavenly Bodies'. But, besides the heavenly bodies, it includes terrestrial things which were believed to have their origin in the sky. Hence we find here such entries as Wind, Rain, Dew, and even Fire and Smoke. This is the shortest section of the 32, containing exactly 100 chüan, of which 20 are devoted to the fixed stars.
II. 歲功 deals with the seasons and the various festivals of the year. It includes a subhead 干支, on the so-called 'stems' and 'branches' used in the cyclical reckoning of time.
III. 曆法 (incorrectly translated 'Chronologie' by Klaproth [5]) has only six subheads in all, but the first of these, on astronomy and mathematical science in general, extends over as many as 82 chüan. A particularly interesting subhead is concerned with the astronomical and other scientific instruments known to the Chinese, especially those introduced by the Jesuits of the 16th and 17th centuries; and the last enumerates the numerical groups or categories so familiar to students of Chinese, such as the Five Elements, the Six Kinds of Grain, etc.
IV. 庶徵 'Various Manifestations' rather vaguely indicates the contents of this section, and Klaproth and Mayers have been misled into translating the title by 'Divination' and 'Natural Phenomena' respectively. As a matter of fact, the phenomena recorded are all of a strange or unusual character, departing from the ordinary course of nature. They include prodigies of various kinds, eclipses, plagues, floods, droughts, dreams, and so forth. These first four sections form a group conceived as relating to Heaven and its manifestations, in contradistinction to Earth on the one hand, and Man on the other.
- ↑ The pagination is not continuous, but commences afresh with every new subdivision in the chüan. As Professor Hirth, however, assigns a total of 852,408 pages to the work, it would appear that they have been actually counted. (See Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde, Bd. I, p. 278.)
- ↑ For purposes of comparison we may take the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which contains on a rough estimate some 40,000,000 words. As 150 English words, or thereabouts, are required to translate 100 characters of the Chinese book-language, we may say that the T'u Shu contains between three and four times as much matter as the largest English encyclopaedia.
- ↑ For a synopsis in tabular form, see Table of Contents.
- ↑ In the China Review, vol. VI, p. 221. I must acknowledge great indebtedness to his article throughout.
- ↑ In the Journal Asiatique for 1826, tom. IX, p. 56. This is the first notice of the T'u Shu Chi Ch'êng by a foreigner.
