A Study of Chinese Characters by Guiyuan, Wang;

Short description:

As the first volume of a two-volume set on Chinese ancient characters and newly unearthed literature, this book brings together the author’s research articles that discuss the development of Chinese characters and the tradition of Chinese paleography.

Long description:

As the first volume of a two-volume set on Chinese ancient characters and newly unearthed literature, this book brings together the author’s research articles that discuss the development of Chinese characters and the tradition of Chinese palaeography.

The 23 chapters in this book focus on two aspects of Chinese characters. The first 13 chapters centre on the evolution of Chinese characters, analysing the composition system and its transformation, the motivation, and mechanisms behind its evolution, as well as the methodology of the study of ancient characters. The subsequent 10 chapters mainly revolve around Shuowen Jiezi, one of the oldest character dictionaries in China. The author offers a novel understanding of the core issues related to this most important philological work, such as the version of the dictionary, misunderstandings in previous scholarship, and its relations with other palaeographical materials.

The title will appeal to students and scholars of Sinology, Chinese philology, and palaeography, as well as Chinese characters.

Table of Contents:

1. Core Issues Regarding the Evolution of Chinese Characters  2. The Composition System of Chinese Characters and the Stages of Its Development  3. The Evolution of Chinese Characters: An Issue Needs Further Exploration  4. The Systematic Transformation of the Chinese Character Composition  5. The Motivation and Mechanisms behind the Evolution of the Chinese Characters  6. The Process and Mechanism of the Formation of the Stroke System  7. The Formation Process and Mechanisms of Radicals  8. Symbolisation: The Mechanism of the Transformation from Archaic Characters to New-Style Characters  9. On the Official Script Transformation  10. Sense Relations Among Same-Origin Chinese Characters (Words)  11. Three Issues Regarding the Currently Used Chinese Characters  12. Analysis Methods Used in Studies of Characters on Unearthed Texts  13. A Study on Characters from Bamboo Slips and Silk Manuscripts  14. Discussion on the Original Meaning of Wu 物  15. The Connotations of Xie 偕 in “Fish and Wine” from Shi Jing  16. An Evaluation of Different Versions of Shuowen Jiezi  17. Four Misunderstandings about Shuowen Jiezi  18. New Proofs of Shuowen Jiezi  19. Mutual Confirmation Between Zhangjiashan Han-Dynasty Bamboo Slips and Shuowen Jiezi: Supplement to Proofreading Notes to Shuowen Jiezi  20. A New Study on the Explanations of Shuowen Jiezi  21. Mutual Corroboration Between Shuowen Jiezi and Chu-State Bamboo Slips  22. Chinese Words in Shuowen Jiezi: A Probe into the Earliest Word Classification Theory of China  23. Shuowen Jiezi and an Exploration of Homologous Characters (Same-Origin Characters)