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.
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)
Biography
Wang Guiyuan is Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Literature at Renmin University of China. He is a leading scholar in the field of Chinese palaeography and lexicology.
