Chen Di / Chʻen Ti
() (1541–1617),
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
: Jili (), was a Chinese
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
, strategist, and traveler of the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
. A native of
Lianjiang County
Lianjiang (; BUC: Lièng-gŏng) is a county on the eastern coast in Fuzhou prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of Fujian Province, China. Most of the county is administered by the People's Republic of China (PRC), while a number of ...
,
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
,
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, he was
versed in both pen and sword. As a strategist, he served under
Qi Jiguang
Qi Jiguang (, November 12, 1528 – January 17, 1588), courtesy name Yuanjing, art names Nantang and Mengzhu, posthumous name Wuyi, was a Chinese military general and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is best known for leading the defense on the ...
and others for many years before retiring to occupy himself with studies and travel. He wrote an account of an expedition to
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
in his 1603 ''Dōng Fān Jì'' (), providing one of the first descriptions of the island and
its indigenous inhabitants.
As a philologist, Chen was the first to demonstrate that
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
has its own phonological system, rejecting the then prevailing practice of ''xiéyīn'' (諧音) (i.e. changing the usual reading of a character in a ''
Shi Jing
The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...
'' poem in order to suit the
rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...
). Encouraged by his senior Jiao Hong (焦竑) (1540–1620), he wrote ''Máoshī Gǔyīn Kǎo'' (毛詩古音考) and ''Qūsòng Gǔyīnyì'' (屈宋古音義), in which he shows the ancient pronunciations (by
homophones
A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
) of 650 characters. The results are based on painstaking analysis of the rhyming schemes in ''Shi Jing'' and other ancient rhymed texts, including ''
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
'' and the poems of
Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan ( – 278 BCE) was a Chinese poet and politician in the Chu (state), State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to Classical Chinese poetry, classical poetry and verses, ...
. In his preface to the former work, Chen writes famously: "There is the past and the present; there is the north and the south. It is only inevitable that characters evolve, and sounds change." (蓋時有古今,地有南北;字有更革,音有轉移,亦勢所必至。)
References
External links
Text of ''Dong Fan Ji''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Di
Linguists from China
Ming dynasty generals
1541 births
1617 deaths
Writers from Fuzhou
Scientists from Fujian
Generals from Fujian
Chinese travel writers
People from Lianjiang County