Ancient Texts Dictionary. Volume 3

Author: Li Pu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-12-01
Features: The Guwen Guzulin (Dictionary of Ancient Characters) is the largest-scale ancient character glossary and reference toolbook in China to date. It "collects ten thousand volumes into one, gathers all opinions into one compilation," compiling large-scale tools that encompass the forms and research achievements of ancient characters to date. The glossed materials cover eight types of unearthed ancient characters (including oracle bone script, bronze script, Warring States and Qin-Han seal script, Warring States coin script, pottery script, Warring States and Qin-Han bamboo slips script, silk script, stone inscriptions, and Spring and Autumn/Warring States stone alliance inscriptions) and transmitted ancient characters (including Seal script from Shuowen Jiezi, variant forms, ancient script, Zou script, rare characters, ancient script from San Ti Shi Jing, ancient script from Han Jian, and ancient script from Guwen Si Sheng Yun). It nearly includes all categories of ancient characters. There are about ten thousand character entries, with a total of approximately ten million words of glossed materials, representing the culmination of a century of research achievements in ancient character interpretation. Its publication will provide an indispensable reference tool for the study of Chinese characters, the compilation of large-scale dictionaries, the organization of ancient classics, and related social science research, with rich and reliable materials.
In terms of our publishing work, the publication of Guwen Guzulin has been a challenge for our publishing house and editorial staff. Because Guwen Guzulin has the characteristics of a large-scale compilation and high technical difficulty, it has also raised higher and more stringent requirements for our publishing work.
I. Large Scale. The book is divided into 14 volumes according to Shuowen Jiezi, plus two additional volumes not included in Shuowen Jiezi, making a total of 16 volumes. We have roughly divided it into 10 volumes, with a total of ten million words, making it the largest-scale, most comprehensive, and most complete ancient character glossary and reference toolbook to date, with wide applications. The scope of the materials includes research monographs, individual papers, and annotations on character compilation and interpretation. All authentic and reliable interpretations of ancient characters with original insights are included. It particularly emphasizes the collection of new materials and achievements from the past half-century since the publication of Ding Fubao's Shuowen Jiezi Guzulin in the 1920s. Unlike specialized toolbooks like Zhou Fagao's Jinwen Guzulin (Bronze Script Guzulin), Li Xiaojing's Jiawu Wenzi Jishu (Oracle Bone Script Collection and Interpretation), and Yu Shengyou's Jiawu Wenzi Guzulin (Oracle Bone Script Guzulin), which focus on a single category of characters, Guwen Guzulin is the largest ancient character book published after Shuowen Jiezi Guzulin.
Even for the published volumes alone, the original manuscript alone occupies more than ten large paper boxes, divided into thousands of material bags. Each time we send out manuscripts, we use a small van to transport them back and forth. Therefore, this is not only an extremely demanding mental labor for our editors but also a test of their professional knowledge and skills. It is also a physically demanding task, and we jokingly say it is a physical endurance test.
From the perspective of work procedures, we broke the original process of sending the manuscript from the editorial office to the marketing department and then to the publishing department. We established a dedicated publishing coordination team to oversee the entire publishing process, ensuring the smooth flow and progress of the manuscript.
II. Heavy Labor Input. As a large-scale cultural heritage project, Guwen Guzulin requires publishing quality far higher than that of ordinary publications. From the layout design to the selection of fonts and sizes, even down to the reasonable determination of character spacing and line spacing, from the selection of paper to the repeated revisions of the cover and binding, we strictly followed the of municipal leadership to treat the publication of Guzulin as a landmark cultural project of Shanghai. Because Guzulin involves highly specialized knowledge, ordinary editors cannot handle it, and ordinary proofreaders find it difficult to complete. Therefore, we mobilized experienced and specialized editorial staff, organized dedicated proofreading personnel, and involved them in the editorial committee's work in advance to familiarize themselves with the content and procedures, working together to complete the task.
III. High Difficulty. The original manuscript contains a large number of ancient characters and handwritten scripts, some of which, due to multiple photocopies, do not produce ideal results, making computer processing very challenging. The process of ancient character encoding, handwritten cursive script recognition, and simplification-complexification conversion is also prone to errors, greatly increasing the difficulty of editing and proofreading. What makes it even more troublesome is that, as a large-scale reference book, it involves the uniformity of the entire book's style and format. Achieving this cannot be fully determined at the beginning; it requires continuous adjustments and improvements during the editing and proofreading process. Sometimes, it truly requires a domino effect: even a minor change in the later content or style may necessitate revising all related content in the earlier sections. All of this requires not only professional knowledge from editors and proofreaders but also a strong sense of dedication and responsibility. Our editorial and publishing staff have remained patient and meticulous to ensure that Guzulin becomes a high-quality publication.
On the other hand, in terms of craftsmanship, we have also overcome difficulties and strived for excellence. As a publishing house, we invested a significant amount of initial funds, and throughout the later publishing process, we insisted on using the best paper and craftsmanship. However, due to existing production technology limitations, after the publication of the first volume, the cover warped in the air-conditioned room due to excessive thickness. We immediately organized personnel to actively communicate with the factory, conduct detailed research, and redesign the production process, all with the goal of producing a high-quality book that reflects Shanghai's academic standards in content and publishing standards in form.
IV. Complex Procedures. Due to the above characteristics of the book, its publishing process is different from ordinary publications and is particularly complex. Each volume requires thousands of character entry bags of manuscript and proofs, constantly circulating between the editorial committee, the publishing house, and the computer company. Adding to the scale and tight deadlines, the heavy workload leaves no room for even the slightest error. If one character entry bag contains an error, it will inevitably affect the entire book's publication schedule. Editorial, proofreading, and publishing staff have devoted themselves entirely to the work. For proofreading alone, there have been eight rounds, and it is certain that the proofreading work for Guzulin is far more demanding than proofreading other manuscripts, even though the content is the same.
V. New Technology. Traditional ancient character glossary and reference toolbooks were compiled using handwritten, cut-and-pasted, and photocopied methods, resulting in slow production cycles and long periods, making it difficult for readers to identify the characters. This time, to reflect the high standards of Shanghai's landmark cultural project, the spirit of the times, and Shanghai's publishing level, and to ensure printing quality, we abandoned the traditional handwritten method that had been followed for many years. We actively developed and applied modern technological achievements with Jieshen Computer Company, adopting computer-generated character typesetting, and built a batch of ancient character computer fonts. This is the first time in China that ancient characters have been computer-processed, filling the gap in this field. This batch of ancient character fonts has not only played a significant role in the typesetting of Guzulin but also provided strong support and guarantees for the future publication and printing of other similar works.
This book is the third volume of Guwen Guzulin, a comprehensive reference toolbook on ancient characters. It includes annotations on ancient Chinese characters from historical Chinese character monographs, arranged in multiple fonts for easy reference and review. The book is rich in content and has high academic and reference value, making it an indispensable tool for ancient character researchers, literary workers, and enthusiasts.