Qilu 七錄

Qilu 七錄 "Seven records" was a bibliography written by the Liang-period 梁 (502-557) scholar Ruan Xiaoxu 阮孝緒 (479-536). He started collecting informations on old books already in his younger years and over time expanded his records. Of especial value in his catalogue was the literature from the Liu-Song 劉宋 (420-479) and Southern Qi 南齊 (479-502) periods which was already lost during the Tang period 唐 (618-907).

His 12-juan long bibliography was divided into an inner part (neipian 內篇) and an outer part (waipian 外篇). The inner part was divided into five categories (lu 錄 "records") of books, namely Confucian Classics (Jingdian lu 經典錄), records and biographies (Jizhuan lu 記傳錄), "masters" and military strategists (Zibing lu 子兵錄), belles-lettres and anthologies (Wenji lu 文集錄), and mathematical and mantic treatises (Shuji lu 術技錄). The outer part included Buddhist (Fofa lu 佛法錄) and Daoist (Xiandao lu 仙道錄) writings.

The Qilu listed in total 6,288 books in 55 categories, with a total physical volume of 44,526 juan. Ruan Xiaoxu in general followed the common categorization already established in earlier private and official bibliographies, like the imperial bibliography Yiwenzhi 藝文志 in the official dynastic history Hanshu 漢書, but also invented some new categories and established a more complex and more exact system of categorization.

The Qilu was very important concerning the status of ancient books. It recorded apparently books from antiquity that were lost during the time, and gives evidence which contemporary texts were in circulation or not.

The Qilu is unfortunately lost, but the preface is preserved in the Buddhist book Guang hongmingji 廣弘明集. The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Wang Renjun 王仁俊 (1866-1913) reconstructed the Qilu on the base of the surviving information. The result is included in the series Yuhan shanfang jiyi shu xubian 玉函山房輯佚書續編.