Yongle Encyclopedia
The last great "leishu" encyclopedias were published during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). The 1726 "Gujin Tushu Jicheng" ("Illustrated Compendium of Literature, Ancient and Modern") was a vast encyclopedic work compiled during the reigns of Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. The 1782 "Siku Quanshu" ("Complete Library of the Four Categories") was the largest Chinese "leishu" encyclopedia, and commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor in order to show that the Qing dynasty could surpass the Ming "Yongle Encyclopedia". This colossal collection contained some 800 million Chinese characters, and remained the world's largest encyclopedia until recently being surpassed by the English Wikipedia. The emperor ordered the destruction of 2,855 books that were considered to be anti-Manchu, but were listed in the 1798 "Siku Quanshu Zongmu Tiyao" annotated catalog. The 1773 "Vân đài loại ngữ" ("Categorized Sayings from the Library") is a Chinese-language Vietnamese encyclopedia compiled by the scholar Lê Quý Đôn.