Yaolan 要覽

Yaolan 要覽 "Overview of the most important things" was an encyclopaedic philosophical treatise written during the Jin period 晉 (265-420) by Lu Ji 陸機 (261-303). It was also called Lushi yaolan 陸氏要覽. Lu Ji, courtesy name Shiheng 士衡, hailed from the state of Wu 吳 (222-280), but later entered the service of the Jin dynasty together with his brother Lu Yun 陸雲 (262-303). Both are the famous "Two Lu" (Er Lu 二陸), excellent poets and writers.

Fragments of Lu Ji's collected works are assembled in the Lu Shiheng ji 陸士衡集. Quite a few rhapsodies, poems, memorials and eulogies by Lu Ji are included in Yan Kejun's 嚴可均 (1762-1843) collection Quan Jin wen 全晉文.

The original size of the Yaolan was 3 juan, but the book was lost during the Song period 宋 (960-1279). Some fragments could be reconstructed from the encyclopaedia Taiping yulan 太平御覽. There are two collections of fragments, one found in Tao Zongyi's 陶宗儀 (1329-1410) Shuofu 說郛 from the late Yuan period 元 (1279-1368), and the other in Ma Guohan's 馬國翰 (1794-1857) Yuhanshanfang jiyi shu 玉涵山房輯佚書 from the Qing period 清 (1644-1911).