INTRODUCTION
is devoted to the Classics. Then follow History, Geography, Philosophical Literature, and Belles-Lettres in the order named. The title of each work has been rendered into English and placed between inverted commas. It will be understood, of course, that the actual text of these works is not given in the encyclopaedia, but only various information concerning them. There is only one set of biographies in the present section, namely, Classical commentators and scholars. The lives of other authors and men of letters will be found at the beginning of section XXIII.
XXII. 學行 is curiously rendered by Klaproth 'Commentateurs', and by Mayers, with more justification, 'Education and Conduct/ Education, however, which the heading certainly suggests, is hardly touched upon here, being reserved for section XXV. The things dealt with in reality are philosophy, mental and moral, right conduct, and typical virtues, together with a number of men's lives in which they are exemplified. Important among the subheads are: 理數, a highly compressed and well-nigh untranslatable term, here rendered 'the Universe and its phenomena as seen in permutations of numbers'; 任道 Exposition of Tao in the Confucian sense; 孝弟 Filial piety and fraternal love; 篤行 Lofty conduct; and 隱逸 Retirement from the world. Certain virtues and affections here included, such as 廉恥 'Modesty and sense of shame', would not be out of place if transferred to section XV.
XXIII. 文學 'Branches of Literature' may be regarded as complementary to XXI; but, whereas the latter deals with actual works or large classes of works, the present section is concerned only with literary forms, from Imperial Decrees down to various kinds of poetical composition. Klaproth's 'Éloquence' is quite off the lines, and Mayers' 'The Cultivation of Learning' almost equally bad, unless it be referred solely to the general subhead, which is very long and consists chiefly of biographies of eminent literary men. The next longest subhead, dealing with standard poetry, occupies 46 chüan.
XXIV. 字學 'The Study of Characters' is a title that indicates the contents of the section better than in the two previous cases. 音義, literally 'Sound and Sense', is a lengthy subhead containing the complete text of the Shuo Wên and other philological treatises. Various styles of writing and the art of calligraphy are handled next, tones and dialects also receive attention, and the section closes with writing-materials and implements of the study. Biography is represented by the subhead 書家 Calligraphists.
XXV. 選舉 is the system of educating and selecting men for the Government service. In the earlier subheads, education is dealt with from a more practical standpoint than in XXII, and this is followed by information as to the great competitive examinations. A subhead which does not seem to fit in here very well is 歸誠 Returning to Allegiance.
XXVI. 銓衡 'Weighing in the Balance' is a metaphor which Klaproth so far misunderstood as to translate the characters in the literal sense 'Poids et mesures'. It really refers to the promotion and degradation of public officials, and the section may therefore be regarded as supplementing XI on the one hand and XXV on the other, which latter it even overlaps with the subhead 考課 Examinations. It is one of the shortest of the 32 sections, having 120 chüan distributed among only 12 subheads. The longest of these is 官制 Regulations for Officials. The biographies one might look for here must be sought under section XI.
