Chinese Dictionary

Author: Editorial Department of Zhonghua Book Company
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: Last year, we compiled and published the Zhonghua Dictionary, and readers from all walks of life responded positively, requesting the publication of a companion dictionary. To meet this demand, we organized the compilation of this small-scale Chinese lexical dictionary suitable for primary and secondary school students. After research and investigation, we concluded that this dictionary should include parts of speech, provide differential analyses, be compact in size, yet extensive in content. Following these principles, the dictionary only includes 7,000 common characters approved by the National Language Work Commission, with numerous visually intuitive words used as examples in monosyllabic word entries without separate entries for explanation. The definitions are concise and practical, simple yet relevant (given the vast number of Chinese idioms, we decided to publish a separate Zhonghua Idiom Dictionary as a companion). This approach aims to cover a broad range of content, achieving the effect of brevity with richness and efficiency. The contributors are primarily experts, scholars, and professors with years of experience in linguistic and literary work or in teaching Chinese, as well as editors specializing in linguistic reference books at the publishing house. As the new format adopted is still in the exploratory stage and we lack experience, despite multiple revisions, some issues and shortcomings may still exist. We sincerely hope that academic colleagues and readers will offer timely criticism and corrections to facilitate future revisions.