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Shizhoupian
The ''Shizhoupian'' () is the first known Chinese dictionary, and was written in the ancient large seal script. The work was traditionally dated to the reign of King Xuan of Zhou (827–782 BCE), but many modern scholars assign it to the state of Qin in the Warring States period (221 BCE). The text is no longer fully extant, and it is now known only through fragments. History The ''Shizhoupian'' dictionary, which was probably compiled sometime between 700 BCE to 200 BCE, originally consisted of 15 chapters ( ), but six were lost by the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han (25–56 CE) and the other nine chapters, except for scattered references, were lost by the Jin dynasty (266–420). Title Until recently, it was thought that the dictionary title referred to Shi Zhou (, who allegedly served as Grand Historian in the court of Western Zhou King Xuan (r. 827–782 BCE). Both the " Yiwenzhi" chapter of the ''Book of Han'' and the 121 CE ''Shuowen Jiez ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Dictionary
There are two types of dictionaries regularly used in the Chinese language: list individual Chinese characters, and list words and phrases. Because tens of thousands of characters have been used in written Chinese, Chinese lexicographers have developed a number of methods to order and sort characters to facilitate more convenient reference. Chinese dictionaries have been published for over two millennia, beginning in the Han dynasty. This is the longest lexicographical history of any language. In addition to works for Mandarin Chinese, beginning with the 1st-century CE '' Fangyan'' dictionaries also been created for the many varieties of Chinese. One of the most influential Chinese dictionaries ever published was the '' Kangxi Dictionary'', finished in 1716 during the Qing dynasty, with the list of 214 Kangxi radicals it popularized are still widely used. Terminology The general term ''cishu'' ( zh, links=no, t=辭書, p=císhū, l=lexicographic books) semantically encompasse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Large Seal Script
The term large seal script traditionally refers to written Chinese dating from before the Qin dynasty—now used either narrowly to the writing of the Western and early Eastern Zhou dynasty (403 BCE), or more broadly to also include the oracle bone script (). The term deliberately contrasts the small seal script, the official script standardized throughout China during the Qin dynasty, often called merely 'seal script'. Due to the term's lack of precision, scholars often prefer more specific references regarding the provenance of whichever written samples are being discussed. During the Han dynasty (202 BCE220 CE), when clerical script became the popular form of writing, the small seal script was relegated to limited, formal usage, such as on signet seals and for the titles of stelae (inscribed stone memorial tablets which were popular at the time), and as such the earlier Qin dynasty script began to be referred to as 'seal script'. At that time, there remai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shuowen Jiezi
The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the first comprehensive analysis of characters in terms of their structure, where Xu attempted to provide rationales for their construction. It was also the first to organize its entries into sections according to shared components called Chinese character radicals, radicals. Background Xu Shen was a scholar of the Five Classics during the Han dynasty. He finished compiling the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' in 100 CE. However, due to an unfavorable imperial attitude towards scholarship, he waited until 121 before his son Xu Chong presented it to Emperor An of Han, along with a memorial. In analyzing the structure of characters and defining the words represented by them, Xu strove to clarify the meaning of the pre-Han classics, so as to ensure order and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Guowei
Wang Guowei (; 2 December 18772 June 1927) or Wang Kuo-wei, courtesy name Jing'an () or Boyu (), was a Chinese historian and poet. A versatile scholar, he made important contributions to the studies of ancient history, epigraphy, philology, vernacular literature and literary theory. Biography A native of Haining, Zhejiang, he went to Shanghai to work as a proofreader for a newspaper, after failing to pass the Imperial Examination in his hometown, at the age of 22. There he studied in the Dongwen Xueshe (東文學社), a Japanese language teaching school, and became a protégé of Luo Zhenyu. Sponsored by Luo, he left for Japan in 1901, studying natural sciences in Tokyo. Back in China one year later, he began to teach in different colleges, and devoted himself to the study of German idealism. He fled to Japan with Luo when the Xinhai Revolution took place in 1911. He returned to China in 1916, but remained loyal to the overthrown Manchu emperor. In 1924, he was appointed profe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring interregnum known as the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC), and it was succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). The dynasty was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) established by the usurping regent Wang Mang, and is thus separated into two periods—the #Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD), Western Han (202 BC9 AD) and the #Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han (25–220 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han dynasty is considered a Golden ages of China, golden age in Chinese history, and had a permanent impact on Chinese identity in later periods. The majority ethnic group of modern China refer to themselves as the "Han people" or "Han Chinese". The spoken Chinese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanghai Museum
The Shanghai Museum is a municipal public museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. It is funded by thShanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau Rebuilt at its current location in 1996, it is famous for its large collection of rare cultural pieces. History The museum was founded in 1952 and was first open to the public in the former Shanghai Racecourse club house, now at 325 West Nanjing Road. The founding collections came principally from three sources: a batch of artifacts gathered by the Communist 3rd Field Army during the civil war from accidental finds and confiscations of private property and brought to Shanghai upon the Communists' conquest of the city; artifacts confiscated by the customs service; items sold by private collectors due to political pressure during political purges and purchased by the government. The former Shanghai Municipal Museum was also merged into the new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ding (vessel)
''Ding'' ( zh, s=鼎, p=dǐng) are prehistoric China, prehistoric and ancient China, ancient Chinese cauldrons standing upon legs with a lid and two fancy facing handles. They are one of the most important shapes used in Chinese ritual bronzes. They were made in two shapes: round vessels with three legs and rectangular ones with four, the latter often called ''fāng dǐng'' ( zh, s=方鼎, l=square ding). They were cookware, used for cooking, storage, and animal sacrifice, ritual offerings to the Chinese mythology, gods or to ancestor veneration in China, ancestors. The earliest recovered examples are ceramic tripods from the Neolithic Peiligang culture, Peiligang culture, but they are better known from the Chinese Bronze Age, particularly after the Zhou dynasty, Zhou deemphasized the ritual use of ''huangjiu'' alcohol practiced by the list of Shang emperors, Shang kings. Under the Zhou, the ding and the privilege to perform the associated rituals became symbols of authority. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reconstructions Of Old Chinese
Although Old Chinese is known from written records beginning around 1200 BC, the logographic script provides much more indirect and partial information about the pronunciation of the language than alphabetic systems used elsewhere. Several authors have produced reconstructions of Old Chinese phonology, beginning with the Swedish sinologist Bernhard Karlgren in the 1940s and continuing to the present day. The method introduced by Karlgren is unique, comparing categories implied by ancient rhyming practice and the structure of Chinese characters with descriptions in medieval rhyme dictionaries, though more recent approaches have also incorporated other kinds of evidence. Although the various notations appear to be very different, they correspond with each other on most points. By the 1970s, it was generally agreed that Old Chinese had fewer points of articulation than Middle Chinese, a set of voiceless sonorants, and labiovelar and labio-laryngeal initials. Since the 1990s, mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhengzhang
Zhengzhang Shangfang (9 August 1933 – 19 May 2018) was a Chinese linguist, known for his reconstruction of Old Chinese. Early life and education Zhengzhang was born as Zheng Xiangfang (郑祥芳 ''Zhèng Xiángfāng'') in Yongjia County, on the outskirts of Wenzhou. As 祥 and 尚 have the same pronunciation in the Wenzhou dialect, his personal name became Shangfang (尚芳). While in high school, his parents changed his family name to Zhengzhang, which combined his father's surname Zheng with his mother's surname Zhang. His early life was marked by challenges. His father left home due to his involvement in a labor strike, and Zhengzhang was raised by his grandfather. This early family situation did not stop his pursuit of knowledge. Influenced by his grandfather, he developed a strong interest in dialects at a young age. After graduating from Wenzhou Municipal High School in 1952, because of his family background and his family's political situation, he did not have the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Surname
Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicization, Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the Western name order, Western tradition in which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population. A report in 2019 gives the List of common Chinese surnames, most common Chinese surnames as Wang (surname), Wang and Li (surname 李), Li, each shared by over 100 million people in China. The remaining eight of the top ten most common Chinese surnames are Zhang (surname), Zhang, Liu, Chen (surname), Chen, Yang (surname), Yang, Huang (surname), Huang, Zhao (surname), Zhao, Wu (surn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigraphical
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an ''epigrapher'' or ''epigraphist''. For example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and finding any relevant circumstances. It is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practised by the same person. Epigraphy is a primary t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
