Feb 5, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald
Hanshu yiwen zhi 漢書藝文志 is the oldest extant bibliography of ancient China. It is one of the treatises (zhi 志) in the official dynastic history Hanshu 漢書 written by Ban Gu 班固 (32-92 CE) during the early Later Han period 後漢 (25-220 CE). For his catalogue, Ban Gu largely took over the literary categories of the catalogue Qilüe 七略 by Liu Xin 劉歆 and compiled a bibliography with six categories of literature, with 38 sub-categorical types of books written by 596 different authors (plus the anonymous texts), with a physical corpus of 13,269 juan in total.
Ban Gu's literary categories are: Confucian Classics (liuyi 六藝), philosophers and masters (zhuzi 諸子), poems (shifu 詩賦), military treatises (bingshu 兵書), mathematics and astronomy/astrology (shushu 數術), and magic (fangji 方技).
During the compilation process, Ban Gu retained the categories and sub-categories of Liu Xiang 劉向's Qilüe and added all books written after the finishing of the Qilüe, for example, texts authored by Liu Xiang, Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE) or Du Lin 杜林. He also compared the actual status of the books and inserted remarks about changes in the classification, as well as remarks about the physical appearance of the books (number of scrolls and chapters). Ban Gu also abbreviated Liu Xin's remarks to the books.
Taking the Hanshu yiwen zhi as a model, most of the official dynastic histories include a bibliographic chapter among their treatises. These catalogues reflect not just the holdings of the imperial library (therefore "imperial bibliographies") but also give evidence of the survival and status of transmitted texts.
Ban Gu's catalogue is even more important because Liu Xin's Qilüe, the oldest bibliographic catalogue of China, is lost.
The Song-period 宋 (960-1279) scholar Wang Yinglin 王應麟 (1223-1296) wrote a text-critical commentary called Hanshu yiwen zhi kaozheng 漢書藝文志考證, which was supplemented by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Yao Chenzong 姚振宗 (1842-1906) in his Hanshu yiwen zhi shibu 漢書藝文志拾補 and Hanshu yiwen zhi tiaoli 漢書藝文志條理.
Table 1. Literary categories of the Hanshu yiwen zhi 漢書藝文志
| 1. 六藝 Liuyi The six classical arts, 103 writers |
| 易 |
Yi |
Texts and commentaries on the Book of Changes |
13 books |
| 尚 |
Shang |
Texts and commentaries on the Book of Documents |
11 books |
| 詩 |
Shi |
Texts and commentaries on the Book of Songs |
14 books |
| 禮 |
Li |
Texts and commentaries on the Rites |
14 books |
| 樂 |
Yue |
Books on Music |
7 books |
| 春秋 |
Chunqiu |
Texts and commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals |
29 books |
| 論語 |
Lunyu |
Texts and commentaries on the Confucian Analects |
12 books |
| 孝經 |
Xiaojing |
Texts and commentaries on the Book of Filial Piety |
14 books |
| 小學 |
Xiaoxue |
Elementary learning and lexicography |
12 books |
| 2. 諸子 Zhuzi Masters and philosophers, 189 writers |
| 儒家 |
Rujia |
Confucian treatises |
51 books |
| 道家 |
Daojia |
Daoist treatises |
37 books |
| 陰陽家 |
Yinyangjia |
Yin-and-Yang treatises |
21 books |
| 法家 |
Fajia |
Legalist treatises |
10 books |
| 名家 |
Mingjia |
Treatises of sophists or dialecticians |
7 books |
| 墨家 |
Mojia |
Mohist treatises |
6 books |
| 從橫家 |
Zonghengjia |
Books of coalition advisers or diplomatists |
12 books |
| 雜家 |
Zajia |
Miscellaneous or syncretist treatises |
20 books |
| 農家 |
Nongjia |
Agricultural treatises |
9 books |
| 小說家 |
Xiaoshuojia |
Storytellers |
15 books |
| 3. 詩賦 Shifu Poetry, 106 writers |
| 賦 |
Fu |
Rhapsodies I |
20 books |
| 賦 |
Fu |
Rhapsodies II |
21 books |
| 賦 |
Fu |
Rhapsodies III |
25 books |
| 雜賦 |
Zafu |
Miscellaneous rhapsodies |
11 books |
| 歌詩 |
Geshi |
Songs and poems |
28 books |
| 4. 兵書 Bingshu Books on warfare, 53 writers |
| 兵權謀 |
Bing quanmou |
Books on strategy and tactics |
13 books |
| 兵形勢 |
Bing xingshi |
Books on the influence of wind and weather on war |
12 books |
| 陰陽家 |
Yinyangjia |
Books on the influence of time on war |
16 books |
| 兵技巧 |
Bing jiqiao |
Book on military skills |
16 books |
| 5. 數術 Shushu Divination and assessing man's life, 190 writers |
| 天文 |
Tianwen |
Astronomy and astrology |
22 books |
| 曆譜 |
Lipu |
Calendar |
18 books |
| 五行 |
Wuxing |
The Five Agents and cosmic correlations |
31 books |
| 蓍龜 |
Shigui |
Divination by milfoil stalks and tortoise plastrons |
15 books |
| 雜占 |
Zazhan |
Miscellaneous divinations |
18 books |
| 形法 |
Xingfa |
Geomancy |
6 books |
| 6. 方技 Fangji Medical skills, 36 writers |
| 醫經 |
Yijing |
Books on medicine |
7 books |
| 經方 |
Jingfang |
Pharmacopoieas |
11 books |
| 房中 |
Fangzhong |
The art of the bedchamber |
8 books |
| 神僊 |
Shenxian |
Immortals |
10 books |
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