Re-Collecting the Glorious Age: Yang Fuji and the Disciplining of Zhaodai Congshu, 1772–1844

Abstract

Generations of sinologists worldwide have relied on congshu — texts published in print as collections — for their training and research, yet the term has resisted straightforward translation.1 Arthur W. Hummel Sr. (1884–1975) in 1931 endorsed the Latinate term collectanea, defining it as “a collection of reprints on several subjects by several authors.” Hummel also noted the continued popularity of these “miniature libraries” in modern times, including their instrumental role in building the great sinological collections in the United States.2 In our present age of electronic catalogs and full-text databases, a few clicks allow the scholar access to individual titles without going through the intermediate steps of locating the congshu in which the text was printed. Libraries have begun to pull the great boxes of congshu off the shelves. Ironically, the