Newly Compiled Great Dictionary of Chinese Calligraphy

Author: Wu Chengyuan, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: July 1, 2004
Features:
1. This grand dictionary is arranged according to the radical lookup method of the Kangxi Dictionary. After multiple revisions and refinements, it has been completed as a major reference work.
2. Before establishing the table of contents, it was considered to arrange it in pinyin order. However, this would require horizontal layout, which frequently involves line breaks, making it difficult to arrange the layout. If a wider horizontal format were adopted, the book would become excessively thick, and spreading it out would result in a large span, making it hard to bind securely and inconvenient to use. In the absence of a suitable solution, it was necessary to abandon horizontal layout and revert to vertical arrangement. Consequently, the radical lookup method was adopted, which is also the method familiar to calligraphers and most practicing calligraphers.
3. There are some shortcomings in the classification of radicals:
1. Some characters are unclear as to which radical they belong to, such as "," "," "," and "."
2. The stroke counts of some characters differ between ancient and modern times, often with fewer strokes in modern usage. For example, "" was originally written with 8 strokes in ancient times but now with 6 strokes; "" and "" were originally written with 6 and 9 strokes, respectively, but now with 5 and 8 strokes, respectively. Additionally, some characters have more strokes in modern times than in ancient times, such as the characters with the head of "," which were originally written with 5 strokes but now with 6 strokes. Therefore, if the desired character is not found, it is best to check the following few pages or consult the pinyin index first.
4. For oversized calligraphic works among the renowned masters included in this dictionary, they are sometimes reduced in size and annotated with "(Shrunk)." For example, characters from the Yunfeng Mountain Cliff Carving, Guanhaotong Poetry, Lunjing Shu Poetry, Yihemeng, Kaitong Baoxia Road Cliff Carving, Shimen Song, Xixia Song, and Xia Cheng Stele that do not occupy more than two columns should be annotated with "Shrunk." Additionally, many calligraphic works from the Ming and Qing dynasties and modern times, generally selected from scrolls or couplets, have been reduced in size without annotation. This is specially noted. Moreover, such calligraphic works, as well as those originally printed in white on black, such as Sun Guoting's Shupu and Huai Su's Zixutie, have been flipped to black on white to unify the layout and enhance aesthetics.
5. Regarding dynasties and origins, except for special cases, the Zhou, Han, and Jin dynasties are not distinguished between Eastern and Western, and the Song dynasty is not distinguished between Southern and Northern.
6. Individuals spanning multiple eras are generally classified under the preceding dynasty. For example, Wang Duo is classified under the Ming dynasty, and Song Desuzu under Northern Wei. However, some are classified under the following dynasty, such as Gui Zhuang under the Qing dynasty, and many modern calligraphers were actually born during the Qing dynasty.
7. When there are few variant or cursive forms of characters, they are generally arranged together with the original form. When there are many, they are listed separately under a new entry. However, there may be incomplete separation in some cases. Similarly, some characters that the Kangxi Dictionary classifies under two different radicals, such as "yan," "yan," and "zhou," are also retained without deletion.
8. To introduce variety, the Shuowen Jiezi adopts different versions, thus including both square and round, large and small forms. Additionally, the same stele or collection may include different versions of the same character to highlight differences, such as the two regular script versions of Zhiyong's True and Cursive Thousand Characters or the Congtai collection versus the original stele, and the Lì Bian versus the original stele. Incidentally, there is a note on the Lì Bian. This was a manual copy by Guo Aiji based on Song Lou Ji's Han Lì Ziyuan, and after two generations of manual copying, it has become a manuscript, completely transformed. Comparing the same character in this dictionary with the original Lì Bian makes it clear, but it is based on Song-era rubbings, where many characters are now illegible, erased, or indistinct. In other words, it preserves many unique forms and characters not found elsewhere, which is why this dictionary adopts it. In fact, these characters could be annotated as "Qing Guo Aiji" or "Qing Guo Aiji Lì Bian."
9. In this dictionary, there are three steles that collect characters of Wang Xizhi: Jizifu Shengjiao Xu and Xingfu Temple Broken Stele, both collected by Tang-era monks Huairen and Daya, and both annotated as "Jin Wang Xizhi." Jizhu Wang Shu Jingang Jing is annotated as "Tang Xuan Xu." Due to the broader implications, the latter is not corrected here, except for this note, and is placed after the first two in "Appendix II" without being classified under Tang.
10. Regarding Shigudwen, it was originally identified as the work of King Wen, King Xuan, and King Cheng of the Zhou dynasty in the Tang dynasty. However, starting from the Song dynasty, it was attributed to Qin Dugong (Western Zhou), Qin Wen Gong, and Qin Mu Gong (Eastern Zhou), leading to the recent renaming as Qin Shigudwen. This has caused confusion with the Qin-Han Qin in common usage. In reality, whether Qin Xiang, Qin Wen, or Qin Mu, all belong to the Zhou dynasty. Therefore, this dictionary annotates it as "Zhou Qin Shigudwen," where "Qin" refers to the state of Qin, clarifying both the dynasty and the state name.
11. Characters annotated with "" indicate that their calligraphic works have been included in this dictionary. These include ancient cursive and variant forms (e.g., vs. , vs. ), archaic characters (e.g., vs. , vs. ), and characters borrowed from others (e.g., vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. ). Characters without "" fall into four categories:
1. Abbreviated characters (e.g., vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. , vs. ), which are actually included in this dictionary.
2. Characters derived from cursive script (e.g., vs. , vs. ), except those with simplified radicals, which are few in number, and their cursive forms are included in this dictionary.
3. Cursive characters that became popular only during the Qing dynasty (e.g., vs. , vs. ).
4. Newly created characters (e.g., , , , , , , ). These characters naturally have no calligraphic works to reference.
12. Some characters annotated with "" cannot be found by radical lookup but can be found via the pinyin index. This situation primarily occurs between variant and original characters, especially when the original character's simplified form is not listed in this dictionary. Therefore, when encountering a "", it is best to check the pinyin index first.
13. In the appendix listing calligraphers' works, steles and collections with dates are annotated with those dates. For calligraphers, their names, titles, and birth and death years are listed. Those without dates are arranged according to the chronological order of their contemporaries or appended to the "" annotations.
14. Chinese calligraphy is vast and profound, and despite diligent efforts, it is impossible to collect everything. If there are any shortcomings in this dictionary, we hope readers will provide timely feedback for correction.