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The ''Qieyun'' () is a Chinese
rhyme dictionary A rime dictionary, rhyme dictionary, or rime book () is an ancient type of Chinese dictionary that collates characters by tone and rhyme, instead of by radical. The most important rime dictionary tradition began with the '' Qieyun'' (601), w ...
, published in 601 during the
Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and la ...
. The book was a guide to proper reading of classical texts, using the ''
fanqie ''Fanqie'' ( zh, t= 反切, p=fǎnqiè) is a method in traditional Chinese lexicography to indicate the pronunciation of a monosyllabic character by using two other characters, one with the same initial consonant as the desired syllable and one ...
'' method to indicate the pronunciation of
Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
s. The ''Qieyun'' and later redactions, notably the ''
Guangyun The ''Guangyun'' (''Kuang-yun''; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary that was compiled from 1007 to 1008 under the patronage of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Its full name was ''Dà Sòng chóngxiū guǎngyùn'' (, literally "Great Song revised and ex ...
'', are important documentary sources used in the reconstruction of historical Chinese phonology.


History

The book was created by Lu Fayan (Lu Fa-yen; ) in 601. The preface of the ''Qieyun'' describes how the plan of the book originated from a discussion with eight of his friends 20 years earlier at his home in
Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin ...
, the capital of
Sui China The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
. None of these scholars was originally from Chang'an; they were native speakers of differing dialects – five northern and three southern. According to Lu, Yan Zhitui (顏之推) and Xiao Gai (), both men originally from the south, were the most influential in setting up the norms on which the ''Qieyun'' was based. However, the dictionary was compiled by Lu alone, consulting several earlier dictionaries, none of which have survived. When classical Chinese poetry flowered during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, the ''Qieyun'' became the authoritative source for literary pronunciations and it repeatedly underwent revisions and enlargements. It was annotated in 677 by Zhǎngsūn Nèyán (), revised and published in 706 by Wáng Renxu () as the ''
Kanmiu Buque Qieyun The ''Kanmiu Buque Qieyun'' (刊謬補缺切韻) by Wang Renxu (王仁昫), which was published in 706, is the oldest extant Chinese rime dictionary. For many centuries believed lost, a copy was found at the imperial palace in Beijing } Bei ...
'' (; "Corrected and supplemented ''Qieyun''"), collated and republished in 751 by Sun Mian () as the ''Tángyùn'' (; "Tang rimes"), and eventually incorporated into the still-extant ''
Guangyun The ''Guangyun'' (''Kuang-yun''; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary that was compiled from 1007 to 1008 under the patronage of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Its full name was ''Dà Sòng chóngxiū guǎngyùn'' (, literally "Great Song revised and ex ...
'' and ''
Jiyun The ''Jiyun'' (''Chi-yun''; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary published in 1037 during the Song Dynasty. The chief editor Ding Du (丁度) and others expanded and revised the '' Guangyun''. It is possible, according to Teng and Biggerstaff (1971:14 ...
'' rime dictionaries from the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...
. Although most of these Tang dictionary redactions were believed lost, some fragments were discovered among the
Dunhuang manuscripts Dunhuang manuscripts refer to a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, but also including some woodblock-printed texts) in Chinese and other languages that were discovered at the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, dur ...
and manuscripts discovered at
Turpan Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015). Geonyms The original name of the cit ...
. The ''Qieyun'' reflected the enhanced phonological awareness that developed in China after the advent of Buddhism, which introduced the sophisticated Indian linguistics. The Buddhist Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho used a version of the ''Qieyun''. During the Tang dynasty, several copyists were engaged in producing manuscripts to meet the great demand for revisions of the work. Particularly prized were copies of Wáng Rénxū's edition made in the early 9th century by Wú Cǎiluán (), a woman famed for her calligraphy. One of these copies was acquired by Emperor Huizong (1100–1126), himself a keen calligrapher. It remained in the palace library until 1926, when part of the library followed the deposed emperor Puyi to
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
and then to
Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 ...
, capital of the puppet state of
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese ...
. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, it passed to a book dealer in Changchun, and in 1947 two scholars discovered it in a book market in Liulichang, Beijing. Studies of this almost complete copy have been published by the Chinese linguists Dong Tonghe (1948 and 1952) and Li Rong (1956).


Structure

The ''Qieyun'' contains 12,158 character entries. These were divided into five volumes, two for the many words of the "level" tone, and one volume for each of the other three tones. The entries were divided into 193 final rhyme groups (each named by its first character, called the ''yùnmù'' 韻目, or "rhyme eye"). Each rhyme group was subdivided into homophone groups (''xiǎoyùn'' 小韻 "small rhyme"). The first entry in each homophone group gives the pronunciation as a ''fanqie'' formula. For example, the first entry in the ''Qieyun'', shown at right, describes the character 東 ''dōng'' "east". The three characters on the right are a ''fanqie'' pronunciation key, marked by the character 反 ''fǎn'' "turn back". This indicates that the word is pronounced with the initial of 德 əkand the final of 紅 �uŋ i.e. The word is glossed as 木方 ''mù fāng'', i.e. the direction of wood (one of the Five Elements), while the numeral 二 "two" indicates that this is the first of two entries in a homophone group. Later rime dictionaries had many more entries, with full definitions and a few additional rhyme groups, but kept the same structure. The ''Qieyun'' did not directly record
Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
as a spoken language, but rather how characters ''should'' be pronounced when reading the classics. Since this rime dictionary's spellings are the primary source for reconstructing Middle Chinese, linguists have disagreed over what variety of Chinese it recorded. "Much ink has been spilled concerning the nature of the language underlying the ''Qieyun''," says Norman (1988: 24), who lists three points of view. Some scholars, like
Bernhard Karlgren Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducte ...
, "held to the view that the ''Qieyun'' represented the language of Chang'an"; some "others have supposed that it represented an amalgam of regional pronunciations," technically known as a diasystem. "At the present time most people in the field accept the views of the Chinese scholar Zhou Zumo" (周祖謨; 1914–1995) that ''Qieyun'' spellings were a north-south regional compromise between literary pronunciations from the
Northern and Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered a ...
.


See also

* Rime table *'' Peiwen Yunfu''


References


Citations


Works cited

* * * * * * * * *


External links


A comprehensive parallel presentation of various Qieyun fragments and editions, by Suzuki Shingo 鈴木 慎吾

''Qieyun'' fragments
found at Dunhuang by Paul Pelliot, now in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
: **
BNF link
: prefaces of Lu Fayan (start missing), Zhangsun Neyan (complete) and Sun Mian (end missing) **
BNF link
: part of Lu Fayan's preface, rhyme index and start of the first rhyme group (東 ''dōng'') **
BNF link
: fragment of volume 5 showing the 怗 ''tiē'', 緝 ''qì'' and 藥 ''yào'' rhyme groups *''Qieyun'' fragments brought from Dunhuang by
Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, ( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...
, now in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
(only S.2071, S.5980 and S.6156 have been scanned): **: substantial portion of the level, rising and entering tones. **: Zhangsun Neyan's preface (dated 677) and first 9 rhymes of the level tone, with somewhat fuller entries than S.2071. **smaller fragments: , , , , , , . *''Qieyun'' fragments from Turfan, Tuyoq and Kucha, now in the
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin ...
(in the , select "Short Title" and choose "Qie yun or Rhyme dictionary"; see for discussion): **, , , , , , , , : manuscript fragments **, , , , , , : fragments of a block print edition **: fragment from an enlarged edition used by Uighurs {{Dictionaries of Chinese 7th-century Chinese books Chinese dictionaries Sui dynasty Middle Chinese Traditional Chinese phonology