''Ganlu Zishu'' () is a Chinese

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

dictionary of 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 first surviving orthographical dictionary for the

regular script Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around th ...

, it was authored by Yan Yuansun (顏元孫), a descendant of the famous scholar Yan Shigu. It is roughly based on Yan Shigu's work ''Ziyang'' (字樣 "Character Samples"), now surviving only in fragments. It was meant to be an official guide for the use of those who took the

Imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

, thus the title "Ganlu", an allusion to the ''

Analects The ''Analects'' (; ; Old Chinese: '' ŋ(r)aʔ''; meaning "Selected Sayings"), also known as the ''Analects of Confucius'', the ''Sayings of Confucius'', or the ''Lun Yu'', is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings a ...

'' (2:18). The work comprises about 800

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

s (excluding variants). The characters are collated by tone and

rime Rime may refer to: *Rime ice, ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees Rime is also an alternative spelling of "rhyme" as a noun: *Syllable rime, term used in the study of phonology in ling ...

(approximately those used in '' Qieyun''). The variants of a character are divided into three types: the "standard" (正 ''zheng''), the "acceptable" (通 ''tong'') and the "vulgar" (俗 ''su''). Not every character has all the three types of variant. The examinees were supposed to use the "standard" form of a character. The text was carved on stone with the calligraphy of

Yan Zhenqing Yan Zhenqing (; 709–785) was a Chinese calligrapher, military general, and politician. He was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang dynasty. His artistic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy is equal to that of the ...

, nephew of Yan Yuansun. The stone has worn out, though.

References

*''

Zhongguo da baike quanshu The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

''. First Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe. 1980-1993. {{Dictionaries of Chinese Chinese dictionaries Tang dynasty literature 7th-century Chinese books

See also

References