Song Huiyao Jigao

Song Huiyao Jigao ("Song Government Manuscript Compendium") is a Qing dynasty collection of Song dynasty writings on Song government, edited by Xu Song and others who extracted the manuscripts in part from the Ming dynasty Yongle Encyclopedia (1408).

Background and content[]

During the reign of the Qing Jiaqing Emperor (r. 1796-1820), whilst compiling the (全唐文), literally: Complete Literature of the Tang) academic Xu Song ordered the preparation of the Song Huiyao Jigao based on the Song Hui Yao (宋会要/宋會要, literally: Song Compendium) of the Yongle Encyclopedia and other sources. The entire work runs to 366 chapters and includes sections covering Imperial genealogy (帝系), wives and concubines (后妃), music (乐) Confucian Rites (礼), military attire (舆服), ceremonial procedure (仪制), divination (瑞异), divination (运历), Confucian honors〈崇儒), official appointments (职官), elections (选举), consumer goods (食货) crime and punishment (刑法) military matters (兵), territorial issues (方域), foreigners and barbarians (蕃夷) and interpretation of the I Ching (道释) as well as 17 other topics.

The book contains a large quantity of Imperial edicts and decrees as well as memorials and other documents relating to institutional mechanisms of the Song dynasty. Whilst not replacing the History of Song, the Song Huiyao Jigao is still a key document for research into the Song legal system.

Many of the elements comprising the Song Huiyao Jigao were lost until the 1930s when (缪荃孙/繆荃孫) (屠寄) and (刘富曾/劉富曾) compiled a new version that was first published in 1936.

References[]

• (In Chinese) "Song Dynasty Manuscript Compendium". Retrieved August 23, 2010.

This article is based on a translation of 宋会要辑稿 in Chinese Wikipedia

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