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Yiwen Leiju

Chinese encyclopedia

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ625129 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Yiwen Leiju (藝文類聚), or translated as Encyclopedia of Literary Collections, is a Chinese leishu encyclopedia completed by Ouyang Xun in 624 under the Tang dynasty. Other contributors include Linghu Defen and Chen Shuda.

Yiwen Leiju is divided into 46 sections and many subsections, covering a vast number of subjects and including many quotations from older works, which are well cited.

Content

The book is classified into 46 sections, each containing 727 sub-sections.

Heaven (Volumes 1-2)

Seasonal Events (Volumes 3-5)

Earth (Volume 6)

Provinces (Volume 6)

Mountains (Volumes 7-8)

Water (Volumes 8-9)

Talismans (Volume 10)

Emperors (Volumes 11-14)

Empresses and Consorts (Volume 15)

Palace Management (Volume 16)

Humans (Volumes 17-37)

Rituals (Volumes 38-40)

Music (Volumes 41-44)

Officials (Volumes 45-50)

Titles and Ranks (Volume 51)

Government (Volumes 52-53)

Criminal Law (Volume 54)

Miscellaneous Writings (Volumes 55-58)

Military (Volume 59)

Military Equipment (Volume 60)

Residences (Volumes 61-64)

Industry (Volumes 65-66)

Clothing and Crowns (Volume 67)

Ceremonial Ornaments (Volume 68)

Clothing (Volumes 69-70)

Boats and Carriages (Volume 71)

Food (Volume 72)

Miscellaneous Objects (Volume 73)

Craftsmanship (Volume 74)

Magic and Magic (Volume 75)

Inner Canon (Volumes 76-77)

Supernatural Phenomena (Volumes 78-79)

Fire (Volume 80)

Medicinal Herbs (Volumes 81-82)

Jewels (Volumes 83-84)

Grains (Volume 85)

Fabrics (Volume 85)

Fruits (Volumes 86-87)

Wood (Volumes 88-89)

Birds (Volumes 90-92)

Beasts (Volumes 93-95)

Scales and Shells (Volumes 96-97)

Insects and Beasts (Volume 97)

Auspicious Phenomena (Volumes 98-99) Calamities (Volume 100)

References

External links

Ricci Library Catalog Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine

Yiwen Leiju "Collection of Various Matters from Classics and other Literature" — Chinaknowledge.de.

Editorial summary

“Yiwen Leiju” enters the record as chinese encyclopedia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yiwen, Leiju and Chinese can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2016—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Yiwen, Leiju and Chinese.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Yiwen Leiju” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yiwen, Leiju and Chinese provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q625129. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2016.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Yiwen Leiju”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Yiwen Leiju primary sources, Yiwen Leiju archive and Yiwen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Yiwen Leiju”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Yiwen Leiju” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.