- Chunzhuang Academy imprint of 1328-1332, Jianan Twelve volumes
- 11.2 x 17.5 cm
This encyclopedia written by Chen Yuanjing, who lived from the late Southern Song dynasty to the early Yuan dynasty, was the predecessor for another by him entitled Vast Record of the Times. Some additions to this encyclopedia record matters from the late Yuan dynasty, indicating the presence of a later editor. The 42 categories in Chen's encyclopedia cover a range of everyday knowledge, including astronomy, geography, history, politics, art, religion, and agriculture.
Displayed here is a section with common surnames of the Chinese written in Phags-pa script of the Mongols. The Hundred Surnames was written in the Five Dynasties period(907-960) and arranges surnames according to rhyme as a primer for children's education in the countryside. Phags-pa script was the official written language of the Yuan court. The script is named after the Imperial Preceptor Phags-pa, who was ordered by Kublai Khan to develop a national script for his country. Hence, it was known by a variety of other names including "Mongol national script."
The Mongols originally did not have a written language of their own. In 1204, a Mongol script was developed on the basis of the Uyghur phonetic system and hence it was known as "Uyghur-style Mongol script." This was the beginning of the written language for the Mongols. However, in 1260, when Kublai Khan ascended the throne, he used the Chinese language to establish his system of government. In order to promote his decrees and to develop a national style representing his empire, he needed a script that could "translate in written form all the scripts," much like the unicode system of symbols recognized by computers. He wanted to do so in order to transcribe all the languages of the different ethnic groups in the land, because "clear words facilitate matters." Since the original Uyghur-style Mongol script could not serve this purpose, he ordered Phags-pa to create a new one. Based on the Tibetan script, Phags-pa developed the Phags-pa script in 1268. Kublai disseminated it throughout the land and several times decreed its promotion for widespread use, making it the official script of the Yuan dynasty. After the Yuan collapsed, it was gradually abandoned and became a dead language, having been used for more than 110 years.
The Phags-pa script is a phonetic-based written language originally composed of 41 letters that were later expanded to 56. One syllable was used to write out a single unit. In writing, it is read from left to right and from top to bottom. Calligraphic versions often appear in the form of standard and seal script. Standard script, as shown here, was used more widely, whereas seal script was mainly reserved for seals and stele titles.
Many cultural objects and textual records in or with Phags-pa script survive today, including official Yuan documents, plaques, currency, and official seals. The languages used to transcribe it include Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Uyghur. Such transcriptions not only record the different languages of ethnic groups and their phonetic components but also various aspects of the Yuan society, economics, politics, rites and ceremonies, culture, and religion. Knowledge of this "dead" language provides a valuable key to scholars in linguistics, history, archaeology, and religion.