Chapter 58 Section IV: Some Works on Place Names During the Republic of China

During the period of the Republic of China, there was always turmoil, and academic research was of course blocked. However, due to the introduction of Western academic ideas and research methods, it also had a lot of influence on the academic circle. With the increase of newspapers and magazines, many articles related to place names were published. Yes, but as a discipline of toponymy, it is still in its infancy. It is commendable that several dictionaries of local names were published during this period, among them the "Dictionary of Chinese Geographical Names" edited by Liu Junren of the Peking Research Institute and the "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Chinese Geographical Names" compiled by Zang Lihe and others published by the Commercial Press. Dictionary is more famous.

Liu Junren browsed classics for a long time, copied ancient and modern place names, and accumulated a large amount of information. From the tenth year of the Republic of China (1921 AD) to the fifteenth year of the Republic of China (1926 AD), it took six years to complete the compilation of the "Dictionary of Chinese Place Names". It was published in nine years (AD 1930).The dictionary "covers the history of ancient and modern place names in the country, and the distances and distances, all of which are well prepared", "from the counties and counties, all cities, towns, forts, fortresses, and others are all recorded", with about 30,000 place names recorded.According to the publication instructions of Academia Sinica in Peking, it has the following characteristics: 1. Correct the fallacies of ancient books; , Comparison of Chinese and Western place names, convenient for Chinese and foreign people to search.The origin and naming principles of place names summarized in the dictionary are "Shannan is called Yang, Hebei is called Yang, and the sun is within reach. Half of the places in our country are named because of mountains and rivers; others are either based on characters, or directions, or year names, or It is especially noteworthy to use Xiuzheng (auspicious sign, named according to the place name to entrust people's auspicious wishes); where there is a source, it is detailed one by one, and it is clear and informative".Therefore, it is known as "a valuable masterpiece that can not only help the research of history, but also can be used as a reference for place names".However, "the name of the mountain and the name of the water are not known in the book", which is the Achilles' heel of the dictionary.

The following two examples are given to illustrate the content and characteristics of the place name interpretation in the "Dictionary of Place Names in China". Liugong Island [place name] is located in the north of Weihaiwei City, Shandong Province, in the middle of the sea. It used to be an important naval town. In the Sino-Japanese War, the navy was defeated here. Tai'an (now place name) is located one hundred and thirty-seven miles south of Shandong Province, Qi Boyi in the Spring and Autumn Period.Bo County in the Han Dynasty... Feng Fu was changed in the Song Dynasty.Jinyu County is located in Tai'an Prefecture.Yuan Yinzhi.Fengfu County of Ming Province entered the state.Qingsheng Mansion; Tai'an County was also established as the government.In February of the second year of the Republic of China, the government was dismissed to stay in the county; in June of the third year, it was assigned to Jinan Road, Shandong.The national government was established, the road was abolished, and it was directly under the Shandong provincial government.The Jinpu Railway passes by.Mount Tai in the north of the border is the first of the Five Sacred Mountains, hence the name.

[The name of the prefecture] Jinzhizhou belongs to the East and West Roads of Shanshan, and is governed by Fengfu.Yuan belongs to Zhongshu Province, governing Fengfu.The Ming Dynasty belonged to Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province; the province was enshrined in it.Qingsheng Mansion, which belongs to Shandong Province, governs Tai'an, and is now abolished. (The transliteration of Roman letters is omitted when citing the above entries) It can be seen that the author's interpretation of the selected place-name terms is full of characteristics.It is worth mentioning that this dictionary was later updated and supplemented by Japanese scholar Shio Yingzhe, and several appendixes were added. By 1980, it had been published by Lingyun Sanbo in Japan under the title of "Dictionary of Chinese Historical Place Names".There are naturally many problems when foreigners do Chinese affairs.

Almost at the same time as Liu Junren compiled the "Dictionary of Chinese Place Names", another dictionary of Chinese place names initiated by Mr. Lu Weishi and edited by Xie Guansheng was discontinued for a year. Zang Lihe and others took the first half of Xie's editor as the The foundation continued to be compiled, and until May 1931, it was published by the Commercial Press under the title of "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China".It took nearly 10 years for the compilation of the dictionary to be published.The book contains about 40,000 place names, with a total of more than 2.5 million characters.The place names received mainly describe the history of place names and the location of place names, which are concise and to the point.Let me give you two examples:

Rongzhou, Tongzhou was established in the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to Rongzhou, and it was changed to Puning County, and then it was called Rongzhou, and it was governed by Beiliu, which is now governed by Beiliu County in Guangxi.Yuan and Zhong moved to rule Puning, which is now the government of Rong County, Guangxi.Song said it was Puning County in Rongzhou, Yuan was Rongzhou Road, and Xunfu was the state.Puning in Ming Province entered the state, and (Republic of China) reduced the state to Rong County. Sishui County, Lu Bianyi in the Spring and Autumn Period, Bian County was established in the Han Dynasty, and later Wei Province.In the Sui Dynasty, it was changed to Sishui County.Both Ming and Qing Dynasties belonged to Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province, and now it belongs to Jining Road, Shandong Province.

As early as the beginning of 1934, Mr. Tan Qixiang made a comparative review of the three place-name dictionaries in China at that time, calling the former a "research institute version" and the latter a "commercial version". The first place-name dictionary, Li Zhaoluo of the Qing Dynasty's "Compilation of Geography and Rhymes of Past Dynasties" is of course more detailed and more convenient to search terms.However, "The names of mountains and rivers are not place names, so they are all discarded and not included. This book is the most regrettable. It is far-fetched to include Moganshan and the place name Guling in the Ninth Republic of China in 192. Even in terms of place names, the omissions are also unexpected. , if the names of the provinces and regions are not recorded, it is the most strange, how can the provinces and regions be regarded as non-place names."Despite this, Liu Junren "completed this vast masterpiece with the strength of one person and took six years, and his hard work is admirable."

At the same time, Mr. Tan Qixiang believes that the "commercial book" "has been published for ten years from the beginning of the classics to its publication, and eight people participated in the editing, so its achievements are far superior to those of the research institute's book". "There are nearly 40,000 place names recorded, more than 10,000 more than the research institute's book. The names of mountains and waters that are not included in the research institute's book are searched together in this book. In comparison, they are the best. The layout of the characters It is also very convenient to prioritize the number of people." "I don't care about the names of mountains and rivers, that is, in terms of place names, this book has more records than the research institute's book."Perhaps because of this reason, the "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China" has been a valuable and popular place name reference book for more than 60 years.But on the other hand, Tan Qixiang also pointed out some unnecessary omissions in the business book, and believed that "in terms of the scale of the dictionary of place names, there are still many things that are not perfect in this book."

In 1924, Ge Suicheng and others compiled the "Dictionary of Chinese and Foreign Place Names" according to the needs of the time. In 1940, it was revised into "The Latest Dictionary of Chinese and Foreign Place Names", which included 25,000 Chinese and foreign place names. The ratio of Chinese and foreign place names was 3:2 . After the 1930s, Chinese scholars, influenced by modern western toponymy theories and research methods, began to study toponymy with modern toponymic methods, and published nearly a hundred treatises and research articles on toponymy, which became an important period for toponymy research in my country. .For example, Ge Suicheng published "Research on Place Names", and Jin Zumeng published "General Theory of Place Names" and "Introduction to Toponymy". These are the earliest valuable papers in my country to discuss the study of place names from the perspective of modern science, marking the history of modern toponymy in China. rise. In 1933, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of "Shenzhen", Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao and Zeng Shiying edited and published "New Map of the Republic of China" (published by Shenshenguan). This is a Chinese atlas with the most place names recorded before 1949. The index of the map reached 162 pages, and this atlas was also the common blueprint of many popular atlases at that time.The "Yu Maps of Past Dynasties" and "Shui Jing Zhu Tu" compiled by Yang Shoujing in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China are important atlases including many historical place names.In recent years, the eight volumes of "Chinese Historical Atlas" edited by Mr. Tan Qixiang are of course far more than Yang Tu in terms of the number of historical place names and the accuracy of textual research.

my country is a big country with many place names, and the task of place name work is very heavy. The place name workers must be able to carry forward the spirit of conscientiousness, push the work to a new depth and breadth, and serve the various constructions of the country.Serve to enhance the friendship between people at home and abroad.