Ancient Texts Glossary. Volume 7

Author: Li Pu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-12-01
Features: The Shuowen Jiezi Gulin (Comprehensive Dictionary of Ancient Characters) is the largest-scale professional reference book on ancient character compilation and interpretation in China to date. It "collects ten thousand volumes into one, gathers all opinions into one compilation," compiling large-scale reference books that include ancient character forms and research achievements to date. The collected interpretive 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 manuscript, stone inscriptions, and Spring and Autumn/Warring States stone), as well as transmitted ancient characters (including Shuowen Jiezi seal script, variant forms, ancient script, Zou script, rare characters, San Ti Shi Jing ancient script, Han Jian and Guwen Si Sheng Yun ancient script, etc.). It nearly encompasses all categories of ancient characters. There are approximately ten thousand character entries, with a total of about ten million words of interpretive materials, making it a comprehensive collection of a century's worth of research achievements in ancient character interpretation. Its publication will provide an indispensable reference book with substantial evidence for the study of Chinese characters, the compilation of large-scale dictionaries, the organization of ancient classics, and related social sciences.
In terms of our publishing work, the publication of Gulin has been a challenge for our publishing house and editorial staff. Because Gulin has the characteristics of a large-scale compilation and high technical difficulty, it has also placed higher and newer demands on our publishing work.
1. 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 compilation and interpretation dictionary 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 interpretive achievements in ancient characters are included. It particularly emphasizes the collection of new materials and achievements since the publication of Ding Fubao's Shuowen Jiezi Gulin in the 1920s. Unlike specialized reference books that focus on a single category of characters, such as Zhou Fagao's Bronze Script Gulin in Hong Kong, Li Xiaojing's Oracle Bone Script Collection and Interpretation in Taiwan, and Yu Shengyou's Oracle Bone Script Gulin in Jilin, Gulin is the largest ancient character book published after Shuowen Jiezi Gulin.
Even for the published volumes alone, the original manuscripts alone fill more than ten large paper boxes, divided into thousands of data bags. Each time we send out manuscripts, we use small vans to transport them back and forth. Therefore, for our editors, this is not only an extremely demanding intellectual labor but also a test of their professional knowledge and skills, as well as a physically strenuous task. We jokingly say it's also a physical endurance test.
From the perspective of work procedures, we broke the original process requiring manuscripts to be sent 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.
2. High Labor Input: As a large-scale cultural heritage project, Gulin requires significantly higher quality standards than 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, every step follows the from municipal leaders to treat the publication of Gulin as a landmark cultural project of Shanghai.
Because Gulin involves highly specialized knowledge, ordinary editors and proofreaders cannot handle it. 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.
3. High Difficulty: The original manuscripts contain a large number of ancient characters and handwritten scripts. Some have poor legibility due to multiple photocopies, making computer processing very challenging. During the process of ancient character encoding, handwritten script recognition, and traditional and simplified character conversion, errors are easily made, 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 involves pulling the whole chain—any minor changes to the later content or style require revising all related content from the beginning. 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 been patient and meticulous to ensure that Gulin is published as a masterpiece.
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 first batch of volumes was published, the covers curled 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 to ensure the quality of the book. The goal was to reflect Shanghai's academic standards in the content and Shanghai's publishing standards in the form.
4. Complex Procedures: Due to the above characteristics of the book, its publishing process is different from ordinary publications and is particularly complex. Each volume has thousands of character entry bags of original manuscripts and proofs, constantly circulating between the editorial committee, the publishing house, and the computer company. Combined with the large scale and tight deadlines, there is no room for the slightest error. If one character entry bag is incorrect, it will inevitably affect the entire book's publication schedule. Editorial, proofreading, and publishing staff have essentially devoted themselves to the work. For proofreading alone, there have been eight rounds, and it is certainly much more labor-intensive than proofreading other manuscripts when dealing with the same one million words.
5. New Technology: Traditional reference books on ancient character interpretation 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 utilized 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 Gulin but has also provided strong support and guarantees for the publication and printing of other similar works in the future.
This book is a large-scale professional reference book on ancient character interpretation, encompassing eight categories of ancient character interpretation achievements over the past century. It gathers the wisdom of many into one and compiles ten thousand volumes into one, possessing strong professionalism and authority.