Baikong liutie (), also written as Bokong liutie, or known as Baishi liutie (), is a Chinese leishu (encyclopedia) known under various titles, often abbreviated simply as Liutie (). It has a long and complex textual history extending from the Tang dynasty to the Song dynasty.
The work is also known as Tang-Song Bai-Kong liutie (Ã¥ÂÂå®Âç½åÂÂå Âå¸Â; âÂÂMaster Bai's categorised matters of the Classics and of historiography in six tabletsâÂÂ), as well as by several other variant titles and abbreviations.
The Baishi liutie (ç½æ°Âå Âå¸Â; âÂÂMaster BaiâÂÂs Six PostsâÂÂ) consists of thirty juan (scrolls). It is also known as Baishi jingshi shilei liutie (ç½æ°Âç»Âå²äºÂç±»å Âå¸Â; âÂÂMaster BaiâÂÂs Categorized Matters from the Classics and Histories in Six PostsâÂÂ). It was compiled by Bai Juyi (ç½屠æÂÂ; 772âÂÂ846), a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty.
During the Song dynasty, Kong Chuan (Ã¥ÂÂä¼ ; 12th century) added a further thirty juan, known as the Hou liutie (Ã¥ÂÂå Âå¸Â; âÂÂLater LiutieâÂÂ). The two works were subsequently combined into a single compilation.
The structure of the book is somewhat similar to that of the Beitang shuchao . Since the Song dynasty, editions both with and without commentary (zhu) have circulated. (æÂÂå ¬æÂ¦; 1101âÂÂ1180) claimed that the commentary was written by his great-grandfather.
The work is also referred to simply as Liutie (å Âå¸Â), short for Baishi liutie (ç½æ°Âå Âå¸Â), or as Baitie (ç½å¸Â), or Bai-Kong liutie (ç½åÂÂå Âå¸Â).
In the ', the annotated comprehensive catalogue of the Siku quanshu, the Liutie is mentioned in a comparison of Tang dynasty leishu with the Chuxue ji:
<blockquote> ãÂÂå¨åÂÂ人类书ä¸Âï¼ÂÃ¥ÂÂä¸ÂÃ¥ÂÂãÂÂèºæÂÂç±»èÂÂãÂÂï¼ÂèÂÂç²¾åÂÂèÂÂä¹Âï¼ÂèÂ¥ãÂÂÃ¥ÂÂå Â书éÂÂãÂÂÃ¥ÂÂãÂÂå Âå¸ÂãÂÂï¼ÂÃ¥ÂÂåºæÂ¤ä¹¦ä¹Âä¸Âè¿Âç£ãÂÂãÂÂ
(roughly translated:)
Among the leishu (encyclopedias) of the Tang dynasty, it [= the Chuxue ji] is not as rich (bo) as the Yiwen leiju, but it is superior in essence (jing); Beitang shuchao and Liutie fall far short in comparison. </blockquote>
Although judged less comprehensive than some contemporaneous compilations, many of the references preserved in the Liutie derive from materials and works that are otherwise lost. For this reason, it is considered to be of high documentary value. In Chinese textual criticism, it is frequently consulted for purposes of comparison and verification.
It is regarded as a one of the classical texts relevant to the Zhuangzi.
Editions
Reference works