Fundamentals of Chinese reference books

Author: Zhu Tianjun / Edited by Song Anli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features:
Section: Chapter Tools and Their Overview
Using reference books requires first recognizing and mastering their nature, characteristics, types, structure, functions, and main indexing methods. Continuously enriching and deepening your basic knowledge of reference books during use will yield twice the result with half the effort.
Section: Characteristics and Types of Reference Books
1. Nature and Function of Reference Books
In simple terms, a reference book is one specifically designed for and consultation. More precisely, it is a book that compiles and organizes materials according to a specific method, serving as a resource for resolving doubts and difficulties.
Characteristics of reference books:
- From the perspective of editing purpose, they are used for targeted consultation.
- In terms of content scope, they comprehensively compile materials on a specific subject, incorporating both the essence of historical and cultural heritage and the achievements of contemporary science, technology, and academic research.
- In terms of arrangement methods, Chinese reference books are typically organized by phonetic order, graphical order, classification, subject, chronology, and region for easy retrieval.
Using reference books helps solve problems related to words, phrases, idioms, allusions, names of people and places, poems, essays, books, laws, treaties, chronology, and institutional systems. When used effectively, they allow for rapid and accurate access to the knowledge, data, and bibliographic clues needed.
The functions of reference books can be summarized as follows:
1. Looking up word meanings. For example, in Du Mu’s Tang Dynasty poem Mountain Path:
"The path climbs cold mountains steep,
Deep in the white clouds dwellings appear.
I pause to love the evening’s maple trees,
Where frost’s leaves are redder than February’s flowers."
What does "" mean? Checking Cihai (1989 edition), "" means "because." The sentence means "I pause because I love the evening scenery of the maple forest."
2. Understanding book content. For instance, the General Catalog of the Four Treasuries from the Qing Dynasty provides valuable references for understanding the compilation process, version origins, textual variations, content strengths and weaknesses, and authorial biographies of 10,254 ancient books.
3. Providing bibliographic clues. For example, from the Joint Catalogue of Chinese Local Gazetteers compiled by the Beijing Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one can find the holdings of over 8,200 local gazetteers (including prefectural, state, county, and other types) from before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 190 libraries, museums, astronomical observatories, and archives across the country.
4. Retrieving reference materials. For example, from the Historical and Cultural Encyclopedia of the Qing Dynasty, one can find information on rural labor exploitation in the early years of the Yongzheng reign; from the Songjiang section, details of urban handicraft industries during the Kangxi era.
5. Gaining academic insights. For example, the China Historical Yearbook annually provides overviews of recent historical research, academic trends, introductions to publications in China and abroad, archaeological and cultural discoveries, and bibliographies of books and papers.
6. Acquiring multidisciplinary knowledge. For example, opening The Great Encyclopedia of China·Foreign Literature reveals the history, schools, groups, and works of famous writers from all over the world. Important literary materials on any country can be found instantly.
While understanding the functions of reference books, it is also essential to recognize their nature.
- Ideologically, comprehensive and social science reference books often reflect political biases in their scope of coverage, selection of materials, viewpoints, and even arrangement methods. Therefore, it is important to analyze and critically evaluate the information found.
- Knowledge-wise, reference books are inevitably limited by the era, social status, and academic level of their compilers. We must learn to extract the essence and discard the errors.