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Primary sourceBook1403-1408

Yongle Encyclopedia

Various scholars led by Xie Jin · 1403-1408

A vast handwritten encyclopedia of over 11,000 volumes compiled at the Yongle Emperor's order to gather all Chinese knowledge and learning.

Commissioned by the Yongle Emperor to showcase his learning and legitimacy after seizing the throne.

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An open traditional Chinese bound volume with two facing pages of handwritten vertical columns of black brush-written characters, framed by red border lines. Dark cloth-covered edges surround the pages against a light background.
Yongle Encyclopedia, compiled 1403-1408 under the Yongle Emperor.

About this source

What it is

The Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle Dadian) was a huge handwritten reference work commissioned by the Yongle Emperor in 1403 and finished in 1408. Around 2,000 scholars, led by Xie Jin and later overseen by the emperor's advisor Yao Guangxiao, copied out existing Chinese literature into about 11,000 volumes. Fewer than 400 volumes survive today, kept in libraries and museums around the world.

Why it matters

The encyclopedia shows the Yongle Emperor's ambition to be seen as a learned, Confucian ruler after taking the throne by force from his nephew. It also reveals the scale of organisation the Ming state could muster, and the scholars whose labour actually produced it. Most of the work was lost centuries later, during the Second Opium War and the Boxer Rebellion, making the surviving fragments rare witnesses to a lost project.

Look closer

  • Why might an emperor who seized power want to be remembered as a patron of scholarship?
  • What does the loss of most of the encyclopedia tell us about how fragile historical records can be?
  • Who actually wrote this huge work, and whose name is remembered for it?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Yongle Emperor on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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