Collection of Chinese Language Textbooks from the Joseon Dynasty: Complete 4 Volumes

Author: Wang Weihui
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) adhered to the "Great Nation" policy, maintaining extremely close ties with China. As a result, learning Chinese became a significant matter in Joseon's diplomacy. Over the course of more than 500 years, Joseon compiled and used no fewer than ten types of Chinese language textbooks. This series selects ten of these that are helpful for Chinese language research, providing collation and facsimile printing to meet the needs of scholars. The selection follows the principle of reflecting actual spoken language while avoiding materials exclusively native to China. Whenever possible, annotated editions are used, as the phonetic annotations provide valuable data for the study of modern Chinese phonology.
This four-volume set, Collected Chinese Language Textbooks of the Joseon Dynasty, compiled and collated by Professor Wang Weihui of Nanjing University, is published in large 32-page format with hardcover binding. It was published in January 2005 and has a total price of 290.00 yuan. Volume 1 contains collated editions of ten textbooks in traditional vertical printing; Volume 2 features facsimile reproductions of Original Laoqida, Laoqida with Korean Annotations, New Interpretation of Laoqida, and Reprinted Laoqida with Korean Annotations; Volume 3 includes facsimile reproductions of Puteongshi with Korean Annotations and New Interpretation of Puteongshi with Korean Annotations; and Volume 4 contains facsimile reproductions of Xunshi Pinghua, Huanyin Qimeng with Korean Annotations, Nineng Guixing, and Xueqing.
Each of the ten books included in this series consists of three parts: an introduction, a collated edition, and a facsimile reproduction. The introduction provides an overview of each book's basic information and its value, as well as explains the collation conventions. The collation section includes paragraph division, punctuation, and correction of common errors, omissions, and deviations in the text. The facsimile reproduction carefully selects the best available versions for publication, with original page numbers marked for reference with the collated sections. This is valuable and hard-to-obtain primary data.
An appendix titled Bibliography of Related Works is included at the end, categorized into data, scholarly works, and other materials, offering clues for further research. Among the ten books in this series, except for Original Laoqida, Laoqida with Korean Annotations, and Puteongshi with Korean Annotations, none have been officially published in either Taiwan or mainland China. Works like Nineng Guixing and Xueqing are even difficult to find in South Korea. The publication of this collection is expected to play its role in the study of the history of the Chinese language, teaching Chinese as a second language, the history of Sino-Joseon relations, as well as economic history, folk history, paleography, literary history, and other disciplines.
Professor Jiang Shaoyu, a renowned linguist from Peking University, wrote the preface for this series, stating that its publication is "a welcome news for researchers of the history of the Chinese language" and "will deepen relevant research."