Collections of Individual Writers (bieji lei 別集類)

Collections of Individual Writers (bieji lei 別集類) is a sub-category to the literary category of belles-lettes (jibu 集部) in the collectanea Siku quanshu 四庫全書. Books of this type include the writings of one person, embedding all different literary styles. The collections are arranged in a relatively fixed traditional patters, beginning with rhapsodies and poems, going on to letters, prefaces, and notes, and ending with hymns, eulogies and tomb inscriptions. Of course, not all authors professed all these literary types. Some of the books in this section therefore only include, for example, poems. The books in the bieji section are arranged chronologically in six periods, beginning with the time from the Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) to the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960); the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126); the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279); the Jin 金 (1115-1234) and Yuan 元 (1279-1368) periods; the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) ; and ending in the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) until the early 18th century. The section on individual writings in the Siku quanshu includes 965 books and is the largest of all sections, seen from the number of books.

* not included in the collectanea Siku quanshu 四庫全書, the catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目題要(Cunmu 存目 section), nor the Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書.