Ancient Texts Dictionary (Volume 10)

Author: Li Pu, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-10-01
Features: The Guwen Guzulin (Dictionary of Ancient Characters) is the largest-scale professional reference book for ancient character glosses in China to date. It "collects ten thousand volumes into one, gathers all opinions into one," compiling a large-scale reference book of ancient character forms and research interpretations 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 alliance inscriptions) and transmitted ancient characters (including Small 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 approximately ten thousand character entries, with a total of about ten million words of interpretive materials, representing a culmination of a century 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 Guwen Guzulin has been a challenge for our publishing house and editorial staff. Because Guwen Guzulin has the characteristics of 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, totaling 16 volumes. We have roughly organized the content into 10 volumes, with a total of ten million words. It is currently the largest-scale, most comprehensive, and most complete ancient character glossary reference book 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 with personal insights. It particularly emphasizes the inclusion of new materials and findings from the past half-century since the publication of Ding Fubao's Shuowen Jiezi Guzulin in the 1920s. Unlike specialized reference books like Jinwen Guzulin by Zhou Fagao in Hong Kong, Jiawu Wenzi Jishu Xi by Li Xiaojing in Taiwan, and Jiawu Wenzi Guzulin by Yu Shengwu in Jilin, which focus exclusively on certain types of characters, Guwen Guzulin is the largest ancient character book published after Shuowen Jiezi Guzulin.
Even for the volumes already published, the original manuscripts alone fill more than ten large paper boxes, divided into thousands of data bags. Each time we send out materials, we use small vans to transport them back and forth. Therefore, this has not only been an extremely demanding intellectual effort but also a test of our editorial knowledge and professional 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 original 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 smooth manuscript circulation and publication progress.
II. Heavy Labor Input. As a large-scale cultural heritage project, Guwen Guzulin demands significantly 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, and from the paper selection to the repeated revisions of the cover and binding, every step has been meticulously executed in accordance with the city leadership's directive to treat the publication of Guzulin as a landmark cultural project for Shanghai.
Because Guzulin involves highly specialized knowledge, ordinary editors and proofreaders are unable to handle it. To address this, we mobilized experienced and skilled editorial staff, organized dedicated proofreading personnel, and had them intervene in the editorial committee's work in advance to familiarize themselves with the content and procedures, collaborating to complete the task.
III. High Difficulty. The original manuscripts contain a large number of ancient characters and handwritten scripts, some of which are of poor quality due to multiple photocopies, making computer processing extremely challenging. The process of ancient character encoding, recognizing handwritten cursive script, and converting traditional and simplified characters is also prone to errors, significantly increasing the difficulty of editorial processing and proofreading.
What makes it even more complicated 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 editorial review and processing. Sometimes, a small change in the later content or style requires revising all related content from the beginning. All of this requires not only professional knowledge but also a strong sense of dedication and responsibility. Our editorial and publishing staff have shown patience and meticulousness to ensure that Guzulin becomes 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 capital, and throughout the later stages of publication, 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 in-depth 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 exceptionally complex and different from ordinary publications. 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. Given the large scale and tight deadlines, any minor error in a character entry bag would inevitably delay 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 reviewing one million words of content for Guzulin is undoubtedly far more labor-intensive than reviewing other manuscripts.
V. New Technology. Traditional reference books on ancient character interpretation were compiled using manual copying, pasting, and photocopying methods, resulting in slow production cycles and long periods, making it difficult for readers to identify 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 actively developed and applied modern technology. We adopted computer-generated character typesetting and established a batch of ancient character computer fonts, marking the first time in China that ancient characters were computer-processed, filling the in this field. These ancient character fonts have 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 a large-scale professional reference book for 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.