How did the Yongle emperor’s government support Confucian and Neo-Confucian learning?

The Yongle emperor’s government supported Confucian and Neo-Confucian learning primarily through large-scale state-sponsored compilation and publication projects, rather than through personal intellectual engagement.

The most significant of these initiatives was the creation of the Yongle dadian ("The Great Canon of the Yongle Era"). Completed in 1408, this monumental encyclopaedia was designed to encompass the entirety of existing Chinese literature, including the Confucian canon, history, philosophy, and the arts and sciences. The project involved thousands of scholars and resulted in a massive collection of over 11,000 volumes, which served to preserve numerous works that might otherwise have been lost to history.12

Additionally, the government sponsored the compilation and publication of various Confucian and Neo-Confucian Classics. Despite these efforts, the Yongle emperor—a military leader by nature—reportedly viewed these scholarly activities as "busywork" for intellectuals rather than as pursuits of personal importance. While he relied on scholar-officials from the Hanlin Academy for administrative support, his personal intellectual interests were more closely aligned with other influences, such as Tibetan Buddhism.1