Yongle Dadian

Timeline

1. 1421–1423Beijing · North ChinaDuring the Yongle era, the Hanlin Academy organized scholars to make large-scale transcriptions of the completed encyclopedia, writing main text and collation notes in vermilion and black ink, forming a master text close to the definitive version.
2. 1424Beijing · North ChinaIn the 22nd year of Yongle, compilation of the whole work was finished; the master copy was stored in the Shenmi Pavilion and duplicate copies in multiple places, marking the peak of the Ming textual compilation project.
3. 1425–1430Beijing · North ChinaAfter the Chengzu Emperor's death, the master copy remained in the palace; during the Hongxi and Xuande reigns, duplicate copies were successively bestowed on princes and key locations, becoming an important source for later textual recovery and scholarly textual research.