 There were also very large encyclopedic works written in the Song period , such as the Four Great Books of Song compiled first by Li Fang in the 10th century and fully edited by the time of Cefu Yuangui in the 11th century . The largest of these was the 1013 publication of the Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau , a massive encyclopedia consisting of 9 @.@ 4 million written Chinese characters divided into 1000 volumes . There were are also rhyme dictionaries written during the Song dynasty , such as the Jiyun of 1037 . Although Neo @-@ Confucianism became dominant over Buddhism in China during this period , there was still a significant amount of Buddhist literature . For example , there was the collection of Zen Buddhist kōans in the Blue Cliff Record of 1125 , which was expanded by Yuanwu Keqin ( 1063 – 1135 ) . ' Travel record literature ' ( ' youji wenxue ' ) was also a popular category of literature during the Song period , which was accounts of one 's own travel experiences typically written in narrative or prose styles , and included authors such as Fan Chengda ( 1126 – 1193 ) . A great example of Chinese travel literature in the Song period would be Su Shi 's ( 1037 – 1101 ) Record of Stone Bell Mountain . 
