Ancient Texts Dictionary -- Volume 3

Author: Li Pu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-12-01
Features: The Guwen Guzulin (Comprehensive 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 and compiles all opinions into one," compiling large-scale tools that gather the forms and research achievements of ancient characters to date. The collected glossary materials cover eight types of unearthed ancient characters (including oracle bone script, bronze script, Warring States Qin-Han seal script, Warring States coin script, pottery script, Warring States 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 encompasses all categories of ancient characters. There are about ten thousand character entries, with a total of approximately ten million words of glossary 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 new and higher 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, totaling 16 volumes. We roughly divided it into 10 volumes, with a of approximately one million words, resulting in a total of ten million words. It is currently the largest-scale, most comprehensive, and most complete ancient character glossary and reference toolbook, with wide applications. The scope of the materials includes research monographs, individual papers, and annotations on character compilation and interpretation. Any authentic and reliable interpretations of ancient characters 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 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 published volumes alone, the original manuscripts alone occupied more than ten large paper boxes, divided into thousands of data bags. Each time we sent out manuscripts, we used small vans to transport them back and forth. Therefore, for our editors, this was not only an extremely demanding intellectual effort but also a test of their professional knowledge and skills, as well as a physically strenuous task. We jokingly called it a physical endurance test as well.
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 manuscripts.
II. Significant Labor Input. As a large-scale cultural heritage project, Guwen Guzulin requires much higher quality standards than ordinary publications. From the layout design to the selection of fonts and sizes, even down to the rationalization of character spacing and line spacing, from the choice of paper to the repeated revisions of the cover and binding, every step was meticulously executed in accordance with the city leadership's directive to treat the publication of Guzulin as a landmark cultural project of Shanghai. Because Guzulin involves highly specialized knowledge, ordinary editors and proofreaders could not handle it. Therefore, we mobilized experienced and specialized editorial teams and organized dedicated proofreading personnel to intervene early in the editorial committee's work, familiarize themselves with the content and procedures, and participate in the process to ensure completion.
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 render well and are difficult to process with computers. The encoding of ancient characters, the recognition of handwritten cursive scripts, and the conversion between traditional and simplified characters are also prone to errors, significantly increasing the difficulty of editing and proofreading. What makes it even more challenging 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—minor changes to the content or style in later sections may necessitate revising all related content in the earlier sections. All of this requires not only professional knowledge but also a strong sense of dedication and responsibility. Our editorial and publishing staff persevered, repeatedly reviewing and refining to ensure that Guzulin would be a masterpiece.
On the other hand, in terms of production techniques, we also overcame difficulties and strived for excellence. As a publishing house, we invested heavily in initial funding and continued to demand the best paper and craftsmanship throughout the publishing process. However, due to existing production technology limitations, after the first volume was published, 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 to ensure the book's quality. The goal was to reflect Shanghai's academic standards in content and its publishing standards in form.
IV. Complex Procedures. Due to the above characteristics of the book, its publishing process is also different from ordinary publications and is particularly complex. Each volume requires thousands of character entry bags of manuscripts and proofs, constantly circulating between the editorial committee, the publishing house, and the computer company. Given the large scale and tight deadlines, any minor error could jeopardize the entire book's publication schedule. Editorial, proofreading, and publishing staff were fully committed to the work. For proofreading alone, there were eight rounds, and reviewing one million words of content for Guzulin was undoubtedly much more labor-intensive than reviewing other manuscripts.
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 utilized modern technological achievements with Jieshen Computer Company, adopting computer-generated character typesetting and establishing a batch of ancient character computer fonts. This was the first time in China that ancient characters were computer-processed, filling the gap in this field. This batch of ancient character fonts 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 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 essential tool for ancient character researchers, literary workers, and enthusiasts.