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The type of miscellaneous treatises (zajia lei 雜家類) is a sub-category to the literary category of masters and philosophers (zibu 子部) in the collectaneum Siku quanshu 四庫全書. This section includes books of a wide thematic range that can not be attributed to other categories. The origin of this category comes from so-called miscellaneous thinkers uniting Confucian, Mohist and legalist thought. The compilers of the Siku quanshu splitted this section up into six divisions: The miscellaneous teachings (zaxue 雜學, 22 books) are philosophical treatises, like the Mozi 墨子, Gongsun Longzi 公孫龍子, Lüshu chunqiu 呂氏春秋, Huainanzi 淮南子, Renwuzhi 人物志 or Yanshi jiaxun 顏氏家訓. The miscellaneos investigations (zakao 雜考, 57 books) are dialectical researches on various themes, like the Baihutong 白虎通, Kunxue jiwen 困學記聞 or Rizhilu 日知錄. The miscellaneous explanations (zashuo 雜說, 86 books) are systematic collections on a wide range of themes that are described and discussed in a scholarly and scientific way, like the Lunheng 論衡 or Mengqi bitan 夢溪筆談. The miscellaneous pieces (zapin 雜品, 11 books) include a lot of heterogeneous themes which are discussed in a very unsystematic way. The miscellaneous compositions (zazuan 雜纂, 11 books) are books compiled on the base of several other books, as a kind of anthology. The miscellaneous compilations (zabian 雜編, 3 books) includes writings with a heterogenous origin and parts that have no coherence. The miscellaneous treatises section in the Siku quanshu includes 190 books.
* not included in the imperial collectaneum Siku quanshu 四庫全書
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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