Shi tong 十通

Shi tong 十通 "Ten comprehensives" is a collection of ten enyclopaedias on statecraft written between the 9th and the late 18th centuries. Its constituents are three different types of encyclopaedias with one model each for which several supplements were written in later ages. These are the Tongdian 通典 "Comprehensive statutes" written during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by Du You 杜佑 (735-812), the alternative history Tongzhi 通志 "Comprehensive treatises" by Zheng Qiao 鄭樵 (1104-1162) from the Song period 宋 (960-1279), and the Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 "Comprehensive researches based on literary and documentary sources" by Ma Duanlin 馬端臨 (1254-1323), written during the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368).

These three books are called the "three comprehensives" (santong 三通), yet their supplements are also sometimes given this title because they were compiled in the same period of time.

The first phase of extension work was undertaken during the Kangxi reign-period 康熙 (1662-1722) of the Qing period 清 (1644-1911). In that age the three "comprehensives" were extended until the beginning of the Qing. The second phase was during the Qianlong reign-period 乾隆 (1736-1795), when extensions were written that described the respective fields of statecraft as organised under the Qing dynasty. The titles first three continuations were headed by the word xu 續 "continued", that of the second continuation by huangchao 皇朝 "August Dynasty", Qingchao 清朝 "Qing dynasty" or Qing 清.

Only for the Wenxian tongkao, further continuations were written, one during the Guangxu reign-period 光緒 (1875-1908) and a further, non-official version, during the Republican era. The extensions of the "three comprehensives" were compiled by a team of professional historiographers (guanxiu 官修 "done by the government") in a temporary compilation office called Santongguan 三通館, and are therefore not attributed to one single editor.

The latest edition of the Shitong was published by the Zhejiang Guji Press 浙江古籍出版社 in 2000.