Great Dictionary · Astronomy · Earth Science Volume

Author: Xia Zhengnong, Editor-in-Chief, Fang Cheng et al., Editors
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: "The Great Dictionary" is a large-scale comprehensive dictionary. Its publication fills a gap in Chinese lexicography. To date, "The Ci Hai" is the only large-scale comprehensive dictionary in China, encompassing both single characters and general terms, as well as specialized terms across various fields, combining the functions of a general dictionary and a specialized dictionary. It features a rich vocabulary, convenient retrieval, strong practicality, and is widely favored by readers. With the accelerating accumulation and innovation of human knowledge and the improvement of China's cultural literacy, many readers with higher educational backgrounds have raised higher demands for the use of "The Ci Hai." Therefore, while continuing to compile new editions of "The Ci Hai" to meet the needs of the times, it is essential to compile a larger-scale, more comprehensive, and richer dictionary than "The Ci Hai." The compilation of "The Great Dictionary" is based on "The Ci Hai," inheriting its strengths while expanding its scope. The focus is on adding new fields and terms/meanings in various disciplines that have not been covered in "The Ci Hai," with appropriate supplementation of gaps. The entire dictionary contains approximately 250,000 entries, totaling about 50 million words, more than twice that of "The Ci Hai." It is compiled and published in volumes according to disciplinary categories. This volume includes 8,000 entries on astronomy, space science and technology, earth science, and surveying, with a selected range covering names of disciplines, prominent figures, works, organizations, major theories, doctrines, laws, significant natural phenomena, common instruments and equipment, as well as important minerals, rocks, celestial bodies, and artificial celestial bodies. This volume is organized into four major categories: astronomy, space science and technology, earth science, and surveying. Subcategories below each major category follow traditional academic conventions. The classification is primarily for the convenience of retrieval and does not represent a disciplinary system. Earth science encompasses many disciplines, which are now divided into atmospheric science, solid earth physics, geomorphology, geology, and oceanography. Earth chemistry, petrology, and gemology are relatively independent disciplines, but considering their close relationship with geology, they are included under geology in this arrangement. Geography is covered in a separate volume, so only geomorphology is included in this volume.