Ancient Texts Dictionary (Volume 9)

Author: Li Pu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-10-01
Features: The Shuowen Jiezi Glossary is the largest-scale professional reference book for ancient Chinese character compilation and interpretation to date in China. It "collects ten thousand volumes into one, gathers various interpretations into one compilation," compiling large-scale reference books that include ancient Chinese character forms and research achievements to date. The collected interpretive materials cover eight types of unearthed ancient characters (including oracle bone script, bronze inscriptions, 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 Seal script from Shuowen Jiezi, variant forms, ancient script, Zou script, rare characters, ancient script from Three-Body Stone Classics, and ancient script from Han Manuscript and Ancient Script with Four-Tonal Rhyme). It nearly encompasses all categories of ancient Chinese characters. There are approximately ten thousand character entries, with a total of about ten million words of interpretive materials, making it a culmination of a century of research achievements in ancient Chinese character interpretation. Its publication will provide an indispensable reference book with substantial material 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 The Glossary has presented a challenge to our publishing house and editorial staff. Because The Glossary 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 have roughly divided it into 10 volumes, with a total of about ten million words. It is currently the largest-scale, most comprehensive, and most complete ancient Chinese character compilation and interpretation dictionary, 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 Chinese 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 Glossary in the 1920s. Unlike specialized reference books like The Bronze Inscription Glossary by Zhou Fagao in Hong Kong, The Oracle Bone Script Collection and Interpretation by Li Xiaojing in Taiwan, and The Oracle Bone Script Glossary by Yu Shengwu in Jilin, which focus on a single category of characters, The Glossary is the largest ancient Chinese character book published after Shuowen Jiezi Glossary.
Even for the published volumes alone, the original manuscript alone occupies more than a dozen large cardboard boxes, divided into thousands of data bags. Each time we send out materials, we use a small van to transport them back and forth. Therefore, this is not only an extremely demanding intellectual effort for our editors but also a test of their professional knowledge and skills. It is also an extremely physically demanding task, which we jokingly call a physical endurance test.
From the perspective of work procedures, we broke the original process of sending the manuscript 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.
II. Significant Labor Input. As a large-scale cultural heritage project, The Glossary requires publishing quality far higher than that of general 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, we strictly followed the of municipal leadership to publish The Glossary as a landmark cultural project of Shanghai.
Because The Glossary involves highly specialized knowledge, ordinary editors cannot handle it, and ordinary proofreaders find it difficult to complete the task. Therefore, we mobilized experienced and specialized editorial staff to organize dedicated proofreading personnel. They intervened in the editorial committee's work in advance to quickly familiarize themselves with the content and procedures, participating in the process to ensure its completion.
III. High Difficulty. The manuscript contains a large number of ancient Chinese characters and handwritten scripts, some of which are not ideal due to multiple photocopies, making computer processing very challenging. Errors are easily made during ancient character encoding, the recognition of cursive scripts, and the conversion between traditional and simplified characters, significantly 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 format and style. Achieving this cannot be fully determined at the beginning; it requires continuous adjustments and improvements during the editing and proofreading process. Sometimes, it truly means that changing something small in the later content or format requires 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 persevered, repeatedly reviewing and refining to ensure that The Glossary becomes 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 publishing process, we insisted on using the best paper and the best 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 manufacturer, conduct detailed 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 different from ordinary publications and is particularly complex. Each volume requires thousands of character entry bags of manuscript 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 any errors. If even one character entry bag is incorrect, it will inevitably affect the entire book's publishing schedule. Editorial, proofreading, and publishing staff have devoted themselves entirely to the work. For proofreading alone, there have been eight rounds, and reviewing a million words of content for The Glossary is undoubtedly far more demanding than reviewing other manuscripts.
V. New Technology. Traditional reference books on ancient Chinese character interpretation were compiled using handwritten, cut-and-pasted, and photocopied methods, resulting in slow production cycles and 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 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 Chinese character computer fonts. This is the first time in China that ancient Chinese characters have been computer-processed, filling the gap in this field. These batches of ancient Chinese character fonts have not only played a significant role in the typesetting of The Glossary but also provided strong support and guarantees for the publication and printing of other similar works in the future.