Welcome to ChinaKnowledge.de

Founded in 2000, this online encyclopaedia provides information on a wide range of topics in Chinese history, literature, religions, and philosophy. It draws to a great extent upon Chinese-language secondary sources and thus gives access to information rarely found in Western books. This is particularly interesting for those not able or not brave enough to read Chinese. The reader may either use the search function, or browse contents via the navigation tools.

The encyclopaedia includes

• detailed information on all periods of Chinese history, key events, information on politics, administration, economy, and society
• explanations of technical terms in Chinese history
• a huge number of articles on all types of traditional Chinese literature, with bibliographical descriptions of individual texts/li>
• treatises on literary genres and documentary types
• in-depth articles on religions in China, with a focus on Daoism, the truly native Chinese creed
• scholarly introductions to all aspects of the Chinese language and form of writing, with many examples from various dictionaries
• articles on Chinese thinkers from the ancient "Hundred Schools" down to important thinkers in the early 20th century

The texts include Chinese characters (traditional type) and use the Hanyu pinyin transcription, barring a few conventional exceptions.

The editor would like to apologize for any errors or misprints in the texts, which may occur frequently because English is not my mother tongue. I would be deeply grateful for any hints by my readers pointing at errors in typing, language, and—of course—content.