Chinese encyclopedias

Chinese encyclopedias comprise both Chinese-language encyclopedias and foreign-language ones about China or Chinese topics. There is a type of native Chinese reference work called leishu (lit. "categorized writings") that is sometimes translated as "encyclopedia", but although these collections of quotations from classic texts are expansively "encyclopedic", a leishu is more accurately described as a "compendium" or "anthology". The long history of Chinese encyclopedias began with the (222 CE) Huanglan ("Emperor's Mirror") leishu and continues with online encyclopedias such as the Baike Encyclopedia.

The Chinese language has several translation equivalents for the English word encyclopedia.

Diǎn "standard; ceremony; canon; allusion; dictionary; encyclopedia" occurs in compounds such as zìdiǎn "character dictionary; lexicon", cídiǎn "word/phrase dictionary; encyclopedia", dàdiǎn "collection of great classics; big dictionary"; and titles such as the 801 Tongdian ("Comprehensive Encyclopedia") and 1408 Yongle Dadian ("Yongle Emperor's Encyclopedia").

Lèishū (lit. "category book") "reference work arranged by category; encyclopedia" is commonly translated as "traditional Chinese encyclopedia", but they differ from modern encyclopedias in that they are compendia composed of selected and categorically arranged quotations from Chinese classics, "the name encyclopedia having been applied to them because they embrace the whole realm of knowledge" (Teng and Biggerstaff 1971: 83).

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