Encyclopedia of China

Not to be confused with Chinese Encyclopedia.
For the general publication of an encyclopedia in the Chinese language, see Chinese encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia of China
LanguageChinese
SubjectGeneral
GenreReference encyclopedia
PublisherEncyclopedia of China Publishing House
Publication date
1978–present
Publication placePeople's Republic of China
Media type74 hardback volumes
ISBN978-7-5000-7958-3

The Encyclopedia of China (simplified Chinese: 中国大百科全书; traditional Chinese: 中國大百科全書; pinyin: Zhōngguó Dà Bǎikēquánshū; lit. 'Great Encyclopedia of China') is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, beginning in 1980 with a volume on astronomy; the final volume was completed in 1993. It comprised 74 volumes, with more than 80,000 entries.[1] Arranged by subject, which numbered 66 (some subjects occupy more than one volume), within each subject, entries were arranged by pinyin as many modern Chinese dictionaries have been. A Uyghur language edition was also published in 2015.[2]

A CD-ROM version and a subscription-based online version are also available. A second and more concise edition of the work was published in 2009.

The third online edition was released and published in the end of 2018,[3] which is free to use.[4] More than 20,000 scholars participated in this online encyclopaedia program which started in 2011, including some experts from Chinese Academy of Sciences. The encyclopedia has more than 300,000 entries.[5][6]

  1. ^ "China taking on Wikipedia with online encyclopaedia". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2017-05-03. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
  2. ^ 《中国大百科全书》（维吾尔文版）新书首发仪式在乌鲁木齐举行. news.ts.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  3. ^ 《中国大百科全书》第三版编纂开始攻坚 Archived 2018-07-25 at the Wayback Machine. 张隽. 《 中华读书报 》（ 2017年04月19日 01 版）
  4. ^ 《中国大百科全书》将触网 Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ China to launch national online encyclopaedia in 2018 Archived 2020-10-28 at the Wayback Machine. China Plus.
  6. ^ China to launch own encyclopaedia to rival Wikipedia[permanent dead link‍]. AFP.