View source for Four Great Books of Song

{{italic title}}
{{Expand Chinese|宋四大書|date=February 2017|topic=cult}}
The '''''Four Great Books of Song''''' ({{zh|t=宋四大書|s=宋四大书|p=Sòng sì dà shū}}) was compiled by a team of scholars during the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279). The term was coined after the last book (''[[Cefu Yuangui]]'') was finished during the 11th century. The four encyclopedias were published and intended to collect the whole knowledge of the new state.

The four books are:
* The ''[[Taiping Yulan]]'' is a general-purpose ''[[leishu]]'' encyclopedia.
* The ''[[Taiping Guangji]]'' is a collection of [[deities]], [[fairies]], [[Ghost story|ghost stories]] and [[theology]].
* The ''[[Wenyuan Yinghua]]'' is an [[anthology]] of poetry, odes, songs and other writings.
* The ''[[Cefu Yuangui]]'' is a ''leishu'' encyclopedia of political essays, [[autobiographies]], [[memorials]] and [[decrees]].

==See also==
* [[Chinese classic texts]]

==References==
*{{cite book|title=Das Kompilationsprojekt Song Taizongs (reg. 976-997)|author=Kurz, Johannes L.|publisher=Peter Lang|year=2003|isbn=978-3-906770-63-5}}

[[Category:Chinese classic texts]]
[[Category:Encyclopedias in Chinese]]
[[Category:Song dynasty]]

[[Category:Leishu]]
[[Category:Series of Chinese books]]

{{Song dynasty topics}}
{{ref-book-stub}}
{{China-hist-book-stub}}