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Zeng Guofan quanji 曾國藩全集

Jan 11, 2014 © Ulrich Theobald

Zeng Guofan quanji 曾國藩全集 are the collected writings of the politician Zeng Guofan 曾國藩 (1811-1872).

Only three years after the death of the great statesman, in 1875, the imperial court of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911) ordered Li Hanzhang 李翰章 (1821-1899) to supervise the compilation of his collected works, in order to establish a literary memorial for Zeng Guofan. The result of this official compilation was a 156-juan-long collection Zeng Wenzhenggong quanji 曾文正公全集.

However, this book did not include materials still in private hands, such as Zeng Guofang’s diary, which was in the possession of his great-grandson Zeng Yuenong 曾約農 (1893-1986), who had moved to Taiwan. It was therefore necessary to gather missing documents from various locations, including the Zeng family's mansion (Zengshi laozhai 曾氏老宅) and the Palace Museum 故宮博物院 in Taipei.

The collection Zeng Guofan quanji, published between 1985 and 1994 by the Yue-Lu Shushe 岳麓書社 in Changsha 長沙, Hunan, under the supervision of Tang Haoming 唐浩明, is the largest book of the quanji 全集 type (collected writings of individual persons) that was ever produced. It includes all surviving documents written by Zeng Guofan himself, from memorials to the throne and official correspondence to poems, private notes, diaries, and "family instructions" (jiaxun 家訓).

In 1994, Chen Guoqing 陳國慶 and Zhang Keping 張克平 published an excerpt from this collection, titled Zeng Guofan quanji jinghua 曾國藩全集精華 (Xibei Daxue Chubanshe 西北大學出版社). A shorter version, Zeng Guofan quanji jingbian 曾國藩全集精編, was published in 2002 by Gansu Wenhua Chubanshe 甘肅文化出版社. The entire collection was reorganised and edited in a new format in 2009 by Cheng Lin 程林, published by the Yanshan Press 燕山出版社 in Beijing, without altering the title.

Table 1. Contents of the Zeng Guofan quanji 曾國藩全集
1-12 奏稿 Memorials
13 批牘 Rescripts
14 詩文 Poems
15 讀書錄 Records on reading
16-18 日記 Diary
19-20 家書 Family letters
21-30 書信 Letters
Source:
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Li Xueqin 李學勤, and Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. 1996. Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, 1596. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.
Ma Di 馬迪. 2025. "Mingren dang'an bianzuan shijian kaoding tanxi: Yi Zeng Guofan quanji (xiuding ban) wei li 名人檔案編纂的時間考訂探析——以《曾國藩全集(修訂版)》為例." Bangongshi yewu 辦公誰業務 2025 (5): 178-180.
Pei Xiying 裴喜英. 2021. "Guji chuban zhuanxing celüe tanxi: Yi Yue-Lu Shushe Zeng Guofan quanji wei li 古籍出版轉型策略探析——以岳麓書社《曾國藩全集》為例." Chuban guangjiao 出版廣角 2021 (10): 80-82.
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Wang Yuguang 王余光, and Xu Yan 徐雁, eds. 1999. Zhongguo dushu da cidian 中國讀書大辭典, 1227. Nanjing: Nanjing Daxue chubanshe.
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