Kangxi Dictionary Compilation Project

Timeline

1. 1670–1671Forbidden City · ChinaThe Kangxi Emperor ordered Zhang Yushu and others to establish a bureau to compile a dictionary aimed at correcting pronunciations, distinguishing forms, and clarifying meanings, integrating earlier works such as Shuowen, Yupian, and Guangyun, and launching the Qing's largest official lexicographic project.
2. 1670–1680Hanlin Academy · BeijingThe compilers widely cited classics, histories, masters, and literary collections, establishing a radical-and-stroke lookup method and fanqie phonetic notation; this phase built the work's framework, a cultural-integration measure running parallel to the suppression of the Three Feudatories.
3. 1716–1800Wuying Hall · ChinaThe complete work of forty-two volumes plus one volume of Kaozheng Kangxi Zidian was printed at the Wuying Hall, becoming the standard reference for examination candidates and official documents; it later spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere, shaping the paradigm of early-modern Chinese character dictionaries.