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Also known as Book of Origins, Generation Origins, Shih-pen, Shih Pen, Shi Ben, Chi-pen, Chi-pene, Xiben

The Shiben or Book of Origins (Chinese: 世本; pinyin: shìběn; ) was an early Chinese encyclopedia which recorded imperial genealogies from the mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors down to the late Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BCE), explanations of the origin of clan names, and records of legendary and historical Chinese inventors. It was written during the 2nd century BC at the time of the Han dynasty. The work was lost in the 10th century, but partially reconstructed from quotations during the Qing dynasty.

Book · Open Library

Author
Masakai Habuto
First published
1845
Editions
1
Subjects
Politics and government

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Wikidata facts

Instance of
literary work
Country of origin
China
Image
ShibenSeal.png
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language of work or name
Classical Chinese
copyright status
public domain
inception
0200-00-00
title
世本
Commons category
世本
Sources (2)

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Encyclopedic overview

5 sections
Contents
  • Title
  • History
  • Content
  • References
  • External links

The Shiben or Book of Origins (Chinese: 世本; pinyin: shìběn; ) was an early Chinese encyclopedia which recorded imperial genealogies from the mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors down to the late Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BCE), explanations of the origin of clan names, and records of legendary and historical Chinese inventors. It was written during the 2nd century BC at the time of the Han dynasty. The work was lost in the 10th century, but partially reconstructed from quotations during the Qing dynasty.

==Title== The title combines the common Chinese words shì 世 "generation; epoch; hereditary; world" and běn 本 "root; stem; origin; fundament; wooden tablet".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Shiben” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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