| Encyclopedia is a kind of special literature in the history of Chinese culture, the research of it is still a virgin land awaits cultivation. Standing from macroscopic and microscopic angle, the article discusses the character, origin, course of development and evolution of encyclopedia and the influence it exerts on Chinese feudal culture. The whole paper falls into seven chapters. Chapter One sums up the description of encyclopedia in the booklists of ancient times and the main ideas held by people today on its nature. It takes Zheng Shu which is defined in Complete Library in Four Divisions All Bibliography as encyclopedia, such as DuYou抯 Tong Dian etc. It reassures encyclopedia抯 definition on the basis of a concrete analysis of them. Chapter Two discusses the knowledge classification before the emergence of encyclopedia from the angle of encyclopedia抯 culture origin, such as Chinese word抯 emergence and its Class.fication meaning; ErYa divides terms application; The Book cf Songs divides poem songs according to region; Bie Lu and Qi Lue and other bibliography books divides literature according to its content and desposes academic courses; Han Fei Zi explains the truth using Sulject Fables; The quote many remark out of The Book cf Songs? context, was quoted in Zuo Zhuan; and the influence imposed on encyclopedia by the publication of LiuXiang?Shuo Yuan and Xiii Xu. Chapter Three classifies it into three catalogues, namely, on events, on writings and on both by the application of tables, and gives a new viewpoint of encyclopedia classification. Chapter Four analyses the characteristics of its classification, and draws the track of the development and evolution of the classification system. Following a dynastic order, with a reference to some representative encyclopedia of different times. So we can draw a conclusion: the development of encyclopedia classification system becomes more complicate with the development of society and knowledge system complication and so on. It also is the result of the understanding of cosmos and society of the people ancient. They arrange wanting or not, the former and the later with many works. It is the key to learning the people抯 thoughts and understanding of objective world. Encyclopedia classification affected and connected with the purpose of compiling it each other. Chapter Five and Six start with the research on the political, economical, culture and social surroundings, and reveal the objective reason and the course of its evolution, combined with concrete analysis on encyclopedia, such as the free surroundings of feudalism, the developed status of economy, they lead that King Learning Encyclcpedia changes into Lei Shi Learning~, Rule class advocates literature and the itself demand of literature development, it leads to the emergence of Lei Wen Encyclcpedia; Rhythmical prose style and poem songs and so on promote the development of encyclopedia content and the emergence of new encyclopedia; The booming of imperial examination leads to the arise of Exam Encyclcpedia, Primary Education Encyckpedia; The form of citizen class and the increasing of intellectuals make Encyclapedia cf Everyday Use prevalent and so on. Chapter Seven analyses the negative influence of encyclopedia on one hand. It is regarded as a kind of Culture Tool of ruler, it not only transmits feudal culture and defends Regular Thinking, but also prevents technology from developing and bringing forth new ideas. On the other hand, it has positive influence, such as preserving historical literature, uniting thoughts, and developing of Cofucianism Culture and its rule position. |
