Zhengzitong
Encyclopedia
The Zhengzitong was a 17th century Chinese dictionary
. The Ming Dynasty
scholar Zhang Zilie (張自烈; Chang Tzu-lieh) originally published it in 1627 as a supplement to the 1615 Zihui
dictionary of Chinese characters, and called it the Zihui bian (字彙辯; "Zihui Disputations"). The Qing Dynasty
author Liao Wenying (廖文英; Liao Wen-ying) bought Zhang's manuscript, renamed it Zhengzitong, and published it under his own name in 1671.
The received edition Zhengzitong has over 33,000 headwords in 12 fascicles (巻). Following the format of the Zihui, the character headwords give alternate graphs, fanqie
spellings, definitions, explanations, and citations from Chinese classic texts
. Zhang Zilie was a native of Jiangxi Province, and his Zhengzitong contains many linguistically valuable dialectal terms from Southeastern China. The famous 1716 Kangxi Zidian relied heavily upon the Zhengzitong.
For further information, see Liu (1992:135-139) and Nagatomi (1996).
Chinese dictionary
Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for Chinese, and this article will introduce some of the most important...
. The Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
scholar Zhang Zilie (張自烈; Chang Tzu-lieh) originally published it in 1627 as a supplement to the 1615 Zihui
Zihui
The Zìhuì is a Chinese dictionary, edited by Mei Yingzuo during the late Ming Dynasty and published in 1615, the forty-third year of the Ming Wanli Emperor. The work is divided into 14 fascicles and contains a total of 33,179 Chinese characters. It was the first dictionary to introduce the...
dictionary of Chinese characters, and called it the Zihui bian (字彙辯; "Zihui Disputations"). The Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
author Liao Wenying (廖文英; Liao Wen-ying) bought Zhang's manuscript, renamed it Zhengzitong, and published it under his own name in 1671.
The received edition Zhengzitong has over 33,000 headwords in 12 fascicles (巻). Following the format of the Zihui, the character headwords give alternate graphs, fanqie
Fanqiè
In Chinese phonology, fanqie is a method to indicate the pronunciation of a character by using two other characters.-The Origin:...
spellings, definitions, explanations, and citations from Chinese classic texts
Chinese classic texts
Chinese classic texts, or Chinese canonical texts, today often refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Neo-Confucian titles of Four Books and Five Classics , a selection of short books and chapters from the voluminous collection called the Thirteen Classics. All of these pre-Qin texts...
. Zhang Zilie was a native of Jiangxi Province, and his Zhengzitong contains many linguistically valuable dialectal terms from Southeastern China. The famous 1716 Kangxi Zidian relied heavily upon the Zhengzitong.
For further information, see Liu (1992:135-139) and Nagatomi (1996).
External links
- 正字通 scanned text – Chinese Text ProjectChinese Text ProjectThe Chinese Text Project is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Digitization Project of Chinese Philosophy Books", showing its focus on books related to Chinese philosophy...