Qianqueju leishu 潛確居類書

Qianqueju leishu 潛確居類書 "Encyclopaedia of the Lodge of Arcane Certainty" was compiled during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Chen Renxi 陳仁錫 ( 1581-1636), courtesy name Mingqing 明卿, style Qianqueju 潛確居. He hailed from Changzhou 長洲 close to Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu, and was director (jijiu 祭酒) of the Directorate of Education (guozijian 國子監) of the southern capital Nanjing, and participated in the compilation of the veritable records (shilu 實錄) of the emperors Shenzong 明神宗 (r. 1572-1619) and Guangzong 明光宗 (r. 1620). He is better known for his statecraft encyclopaedia Huang-Ming shifa lu 皇明世法錄.

The idea for his general encyclopaedia Qianjueju leishu is derived from Yu Anqi's 喻安期 (1574-1654) book Tangleihan 唐類函, whose sources are limited to writings up to the early Tang period 唐 (618-907). Chen continued Yu's project and collected information on a wide field of knowledge, from astronomy to human affairs. His book is divided into 13 categories with countless subcategories and has a total length of 120 juan. Chen commented on practically all of his quotations. The book was printed in Chen's hometown in 1632.