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 known as "the Two Lu" (Er Lu 二陸). Lu Ji was an excellent poet and writer, and the fragments of his 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, namely Tao Zongyi's 陶宗儀 (1329-1410) Shuofu 說郛 from the late Yuan period 元 (1279-1368), and 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).