Jingshi dadian 經世大典

Jingshi dadian 經世大典 "Great statutes of statecraft", original title Huangchao jingshi dadian 皇朝經世大典 "Great statutes of statecraft of the August Dynasty", was an administrative and institutional history of the Yuan dynasty 元 (1279-1368) compiled by a team of officials under the supervision of Zhao Shiyan 趙世延 (1260-1336) and Yu Ji 虞集 (1272-1348).

The 880-juan long Jingshi dadian imitated the structure of the statecraft encyclopaedias Tongdian 通典 and Song huiyao 宋會要 (reconstructed as Song huiyao jigao 宋會要輯稿), both collections of statutes and regulations for all layers of the imperial administration, from state offices, tax system, state rituals and imperial sacrifices to military and jurisdictional regulations.

The Jingshi dadian was finished in 1331. It was divided into 10 chapters and two parts. The first part (qishi 啟事 "affairs [regulated] by imperial announcement"), included the chapters on designations, instructions, regulations and genealogies of the imperial house. The second part (chenshi 臣事 "affairs [to be managed by] the ministers") informed about the governmental structure, taxes, rituals, rules in government, jurisdictional matters and such of official labour.

The chapters and sub-chapters of the Jingshi dadian are an important source of Yuan-period state and government and were used for the compilation of the official dynastic history of the Yuan, the Yuanshi 元史.

Although the most important duties of the particular state offices do not largely differ from those in relevant political compendia from the Tang 唐 (618-907) and Song 宋 (960-1279) periods, there is also a great deal of new subjects and themes, like imperial gardens, state granaries, city walls, bridges, canals, temples, monasteries, Mongolian tents, weapons, salt production, handicrafts for jade, metals, leather, felt, sculpture. Especially the last few themes show the sense for practical crafts that was prevalent during the Yuan period.

The book was lost during the mid-Ming period 明 (1368-1644) and is only preserved in fragments. Fragments of the Jingshi dadian are mainly assembled in three books, firstly, the literary anthology Guochao wenlei 國朝文類 (also known as Yuanwenlei 元文類), which contains the prefaces to the chapters, secondly, the encyclopaedia Yongle dadian 永樂大典, where the parts on the grain management system, the grain transport system and the official courier system can be found, and thirdly, several chapters in the series Guangcang xuejun congshu 廣倉學宭叢書, like the horse trade, the granary system, official felt and tapestry workshops, painting and modelling, notes on varies state offices, and the relations to Korea.

The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholars Xu Song 徐松 (1781-1848) and Wen Tingshi 文廷式 (1856-1904) extracted the latter group of fragments and included it in the series Guangcang xuejiong congshu 廣倉學窘叢書, and the book Daxing mazheng ji 大興馬政記, respectively.

In 1984, Su Zhenshen 蘇振申 published a thorough investigations to the Jingshi dadian and the administrative system of the Yuan, namely the book Yuan zhengshu jingshi dadian yanjiu 元政書經世大典研究 (Wenhua Daxue 文化大學, Taibei).