Dictionary of Names of Modern Chinese Figures: Complete Edition with Supplements

Author: Chen Yutang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The preliminary edition of The Great Dictionary of Names and Titles of Modern Chinese Figures was published in May 1993, comprising three million words. It includes the names and titles of figures, such as their given names, nicknames, courtesy names, aliases, studio names, pen names, pseudonyms, as well as their titles, posthumous honors, popular appellations, nicknames, and even allusions in historical texts. It is a comprehensive collection of names and titles. This great dictionary was inscribed by the renowned calligrapher Sha Menghai. It is reported that Sha passed away shortly after completing the inscription, making it his final work. The entries cover figures from 1840 to the present day. The preliminary edition alone includes over 10,000 individuals, spanning politics, military, culture and education, science and technology, medicine and healthcare, publishing and media, literature and arts, as well as business, industry, and religious fields, including Qing Dynasty emperors and related historical figures. These historical materials trace origins and explore contemporary developments. For example, Wang Tao, who submitted strategies to the Taiping Army in 1862 and was later called the "Taiping Scholar," is included. This material comes from late Qing-era textual documents. Another example is the entry for "Xu Xinliu," which includes information about his wife, Yang Yuxuan, sourced from a short article titled "Xinliu Gong's Wife Passes Away" in the News Daily on September 27, 1938. New materials discovered up to 2004 were still incorporated. The study of names and titles is an interdisciplinary field. Throughout history, scholars and literati have often favored using names and titles, as they carry specific and rich connotations. A single name or title often reflects a person's inner thoughts or life experiences. Modern great writers like the monk Hongyi, Lu Xun, and Wang Renshu have over a hundred pen names each, and their meanings are truly inexhaustible if studied in detail. Among them, Hongyi's title was compiled by his student Liu Zhiping and personally reviewed by Hongyi himself. As early as the 1950s, Chen Yutang harbored the wish to write a dictionary of names and titles. Chen Yutang was born in Nantong, Jiangsu in 1924. He dropped out of school after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. He often claimed to be a lifelong graduate student of "Master of Literature and History" (referring to all literature and history books) at two high private schools, "Cultivating Ambition" and "Self-Cultivation." After the liberation, he worked at an old bookstore in Shanghai, engaged in the collection of ancient and rare books. In his work, he often had to sift through piles of books to clarify a single author's pen name, yet after extensive research, he could not always find the full details. Although there were previous works like Chen Deyun's Compendium of Names and Titles of Figures in Antiquity and Modern Times and Chen Naigan's Index of Studio Names and Aliases, they were far too brief to meet the needs of scholars for reference. He thought, if there were a more comprehensive dictionary of pen names and titles, research would be much easier and more efficient. This was Chen Yutang's initial and simplest idea, and from then on, he became meticulous in his observations. He carried a small notebook in his pocket, copying down any relevant name and title materials he encountered in books, periodicals, and newspapers. When he returned home in the evening, he would organize and verify the information, neatly transcribing it onto individual index cards. Day by day, drop by drop, these index cards accumulated into dozens of thick stacks.