The Tongdian () is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 to 801. It contains 200 volumes and about 1.7 million words, and is at times regarded as the most representative contemporary texts of the Tang dynasty. Du You also incorporated many materials from other sources, including a book written by his nephew, Du Huan, who was taken captive in the famous battle at the Talas River between Tang and the Arabs in 751 and did not return to China until ten years later. It became a model for works by scholar Zheng Qiao (Tongzhi) and Ma Duanlin (Wenxian Tongkao or shortened as Tongkao) centuries later.Zhang Xiuping et al., 100 Books That Influenced China, pp. 232–237
Robert G. Hoyland relates that the Tongdians first draft was a "history of human institutions from earliest times down to the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang", and was subsequently revised as matters continued to evolve.Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, p. 244 It incorporates parts of the Zhengdian of Liu Zhi and the Great Tang Ritual Regulations of the Kaiyuan Era compiled by Xiao Song, and others in 732.Twitchett, Official History under the T'ang, 104–7 The Tongdian was never included in the canon of the Twenty-Four Histories. It was however quoted extensively in several books which were, starting with the Old Book of Tang.
Content 食貨典 Food and commodity 選舉典 Examination and advancement 職官典 Government offices 禮典 Rites 樂典 Music 兵典 Military 刑法典 Penal law 州郡典 Local administration 邊防典 Border defense
Size The Tongdian was a towering literary undertaking for its time, and it is noted for its colossal size. The recent 2016 re-printed edition of Tongdian by the Zhonghua Book Company consist of over 5,600 pages.
Notes
References
Wu, Fen and Zeng, Yifen, . Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed. Tongdian 通典 "Comprehensive Statutes" 通典 Full text in Chinese