Ancient Texts Dictionary. Volume 2

Author: Li Lingpu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-12-01
Features: The Guwen Guzulin (Dictionary of Ancient Characters) is the largest-scale ancient character glossary and research toolbook in China to date. It "collects ten thousand volumes into one and compiles all opinions into one," compiling large-scale tools that gather 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), as well as transmitted ancient characters (including Seal script from Shuowen Jiezi, variant scripts, ancient scripts, Zou script, rare characters, ancient scripts from San Ti Shi Jing, ancient scripts from Han Jian, and ancient scripts from Guwen Si Sheng Yun). It nearly encompasses all categories of ancient characters. There are about ten thousand character entries, with a total of approximately ten million words of glossed materials, making it a culmination of a century of research achievements in ancient character interpretation. Its publication will provide an indispensable toolbook with substantial materials 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 Guwen Guzulin has been a challenge for our publishing house and editorial team. 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 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 research toolbook to date, with wide applications. The scope of the materials includes research monographs, individual papers, and annotations on character compilation and interpretation, collecting all authentic and reliable achievements in ancient character interpretation that have personal insights. It particularly emphasizes the inclusion of new materials and achievements obtained in the more than half a century since the publication of Ding Fubao's Shuowen Jiezi Guzulin in the 1920s. Unlike specialized toolbooks that focus on a single category of characters, such as Zhou Fagao's Jinwen Guzulin in Hong Kong, Li Xiaojing's Jiawen Wenzi Jishu in Taiwan, and Yu Shengyou's Jiawen Wenzi Guzulin in Jilin, Guwen Guzulin is the largest ancient character book published after Shuowen Jiezi Guzulin.
Even for the volumes already published, the original manuscripts alone occupied more than a dozen large paper boxes, divided into thousands of material bags. Each time we sent out manuscripts, we had to transport them back and forth using small vans. Therefore, this has not only been an extremely demanding mental effort for our editors 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 of original manuscripts having to go from the editorial office to the marketing department to the publishing department and set up a dedicated publishing coordination team to oversee the entire publishing process, ensuring the smooth flow and progress of the manuscripts.
II. Heavy Labor Input. As a large-scale cultural heritage project, Guwen Guzulin requires publishing quality far higher than that of general publications. From the layout refinement to the selection of fonts and sizes, even down to the rationalization of character spacing and line spacing, from the paper selection to the repeated revisions of the cover and binding, every step, we strictly followed the from municipal leadership to treat the publication of Guzulin as a landmark cultural project for 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 forces, 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 manuscripts contain a large number of ancient characters and handwritten scripts, some of which, due to multiple photocopies, do not yield good results, making computer processing very challenging. During the process of ancient character encoding, the recognition of handwritten cursive scripts, and the conversion between traditional and simplified characters, errors are very easy to occur, greatly increasing the difficulty of editing and proofreading.
What makes it even more troublesome is that, as a large-scale toolbook, 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 editorial review and editing process. Sometimes, it truly requires a domino effect—if even minor changes are made to the content or style in the later stages, all related content in the earlier stages must be revised. All of this, in addition to requiring editors and proofreaders to have professional knowledge, also demands a strong sense of dedication and work responsibility. Our editorial and publishing staff have remained patient and meticulous to ensure that Guzulin is published as a masterpiece.
On the other hand, in terms of production techniques, 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 stages of publication, we insisted on using the best paper and the best craftsmanship. However, due to the existing production technology limitations, after the first volumes were published, the covers curled in the air-conditioned room due to excessive thickness of the materials. We immediately organized personnel to actively communicate with the factory, conduct detailed research, and redesign the production, all with the goal of ensuring the book's quality and reflecting Shanghai's academic and publishing standards in both content and form.
IV. Complex Procedures. Due to the above characteristics of the book, its publishing process is different from the norm and particularly complex. Each volume requires thousands of character entry bags of original manuscripts 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 is incorrect, it will inevitably affect the entire book's publication schedule. Editorial, proofreading, and publishing staff have dedicated themselves fully to the work. For proofreading alone, there have been eight rounds, and reviewing one million words of Guzulin is undoubtedly far more demanding than reviewing other manuscripts.
V. New Technology. Traditional ancient character glossary and research toolbooks were compiled using manual copying, pasting, and photocopying 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 long-standing traditional manual method and adopted modern technological achievements developed by Jieshen Computer Company. We used computer-generated character design and printing, establishing batches of ancient character computer fonts, marking the first time in China that ancient characters were computer-processed, filling the gap in this field. These batches of ancient character fonts have not only played a significant role in the typesetting of Guzulin but also provided strong material and technical support for the future publication of similar works.
This book is the second volume of Guwen Guzulin. It is a comprehensive toolbook on ancient characters,ing 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.