Because the person who wrote that encyclopedia didn't have much contact with the Chinese language or Chinese people.
There are several Chinese languages, the main ones being Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hokkien. These languages are mutually unintelligible and have their own distinct characteristics in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
The largest encyclopedia in terms of content is the Chinese-language encyclopedia, the Yongle Encyclopedia, which was compiled during the Ming Dynasty. It contains over 11,000 handwritten volumes with 22,937 chapters.
It seems there may be a typo in your question. If you meant to ask about the "Chinese language," it is a group of related languages spoken by people in China and various other countries. It includes dialects like Mandarin, Cantonese, and others that are mutually unintelligible but share common writing systems and cultural heritage.
Many people refer to "Chinese" as a language because it encompasses several related dialects and variations, collectively known as Sinitic languages. Mandarin is the most widely spoken dialect and is often considered the official language of China. Other major dialects include Cantonese, Wu, and Min. However, these dialects are distinct from each other and can be mutually unintelligible, leading some to argue that they should be considered separate languages rather than variations of a single language.
Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty commissioned the compilation of an authoritative encyclopedia of Chinese learning called the Yongle Encyclopedia. It involved thousands of volumes and aimed to showcase the vast knowledge and intellectual achievements of Chinese civilization.
Absolutely not. Japanese writing differs largely from Chinese with the exception of a variety of kanji (while the Chinese characters may match in meaning with the Japanese kanji, they are almost always pronounced entirely differently). In addition, they are not even in the same language family, and have different gramatical systems.
While Mandarin and Cantonese are both Chinese languages, they are not mutually intelligible. They have different vocabularies, pronunciations, and grammatical structures. Sometimes speakers of either language may be able to understand some basic phrases or context, but overall they are considered distinct languages.
The Chinese language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family.
The study of the Chinese language is called Sinology or Chinese linguistics. Sinology typically includes the study of Chinese history, culture, literature, and language.
The common language of Shanghai is Shanghainese, which is a dialect of Wu. Mandarin is also widely spoken.Mandarin and Shanghainese are not mutually intelligible.
The Chinese language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family.
The Chinese Language Institute was created in 2009.