Chapter 22 The third section "Cihai" - the collection of words and encyclopedia words

"Ci Hai" is another comprehensive dictionary after "Ci Yuan". It mainly includes encyclopedias and also includes words.Compared with other dictionaries, because of its rich collection of words, it has its own characteristics in terms of style arrangement, interpretation and citation, etc. After its publication, it has become popular all over the country and enjoys a high reputation in the cultural and educational circles, becoming a famous reference book.Until now, this book is still useful for checking dictionaries and dictionaries, and many encyclopedic terms in it can also provide readers with useful knowledge. Therefore, Zhonghua Book Company has reprinted and distributed it many times after liberation.

On the copyright page of the 1936 edition of "Ci Hai", Shu Xincheng, Xu Yuanhao, Shen Yi, and Zhang Xiang are listed as the chief editors. In 1915, when "Ci Yuan" was published, Lu Erkui, Fan Yuanlian, and Xu Yuanhao of Zhonghua Book Company decided to compile another dictionary of similar nature and named it "Ci Hai" to compete with the Commercial Press.At first, it was edited by Xu Yuanhao, and in 1927, Shu Xincheng took charge of the work, making an editing plan for the whole book, specifying the gist, scope and style.Later, Zhang Xiang, Shen Yi and others took charge of part of the work one after another. "Ci Hai" has more than 100 editors, working hard for 20 years from 1915 to 1935.Zhonghua Book Company published the first volume in 1936, the second volume in 1938, and the bound volume in 1947.

Shu Xincheng (AD 1893-1960), formerly known as Yushan, scientific name Weizhou, Dunan.A native of Xupu, Hunan.Due to his poor family background, he once relied on helping Chinese teachers to correct homework and selling characters at the Yellow Crane Tower in exchange for tuition and miscellaneous fees for studying. In 1914, he was admitted to Changsha Hunan Higher Normal School, and was appreciated by the principal Fu Dingyi. After graduating in 1917, he served as a middle school teacher and a university professor. In 1927, he presided over the editing work of "Ci Hai", and in 1928, he succeeded Xu Yuanhao as the editor-in-chief. In 1930, he served as the director of the editorial office of Zhonghua Book Company. When Changsha fell in 1944, the Japanese army tried to ask him to take up a false post, but he refused on the grounds of serious illness.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it continued to preside over the work of Zhonghua Book Company.

The characteristics of "Ci Hai" The editors of "Ci Hai" took "Ci Yuan" as a guide, and tried to avoid many omissions and deficiencies in "Ci Yuan". Become an encyclopedic comprehensive dictionary. (1) The vocabulary collection is mainly based on Encyclopedia, and also includes words and phrases, with a total of 13,955 single characters, 21,724 common words, and 50,124 Encyclopedia words, with a total of 85,803 entries, including: common words in ancient books, new words that were popular at that time, Idioms and allusions, important systems of names and objects in history, famous works of famous people at home and abroad, common ancient and modern place names, scientific literature and art, and special words commonly used in various walks of life in society, etc.Among them, the encyclopedia words account for almost 3/5 of the whole book.The collection of words, compared with "Ciyuan", puts special emphasis on collecting "commonly used words", adding common words in novels, lyrics and music, and collecting new and modern words and living words.

(2) The sound-meaning commentary distinguishes the sound-meaning of individual characters in more detail than "Ci Yuan".Each single character uses the fanqie phonetic notation of "Yinyun Chanwei", and also adds straight pronunciation, indicating the rhyme (Pingshui rhyme).If there is a change in pronunciation from ancient to modern times, it should also be noted.For example, the word "lead" is marked with "Yu Quanqie, the sound is along, and the rhyme is first. Today's pronunciation is lead." It is specially explained that the present sound is pronounced as "leading".The book also compiles the "Pronunciation Table of Commonly Used Chinese Characters" with phonetic alphabet and Roman characters according to the phonetics determined by the "Vocabulary of Commonly Used Chinese Pronunciation" published by the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government. The authoritativeness of the correct pronunciation of the dictionary.

The word explanation in "Ci Hai" is more accurate.For the training and explanation of ordinary words, there is innovation in seeking completeness.Wikipedia word explanations, written by experts.In addition to citing calligraphy, rhyme books, and class books, the ancient book materials quoted also pay attention to checking the original materials and supplementing new documentary evidence materials to make the interpretation more comprehensive.Because the editors of "Ci Hai" worked hard on the survey certificate, there are fewer errors in information than "Ci Yuan".

(3) Arranging style The divisions of "Ci Hai" and the arrangement of characters and complex words basically follow the method of "Ci Yuan".Compared with "Ciyuan", the major improvements are: most of the cited examples are marked with the title; most of the interpretations of words are explained first, followed by documentary evidence, and the style is relatively consistent; new-style punctuation is used in all cases, and the old-style sentence reading method is discarded. . "Ci Hai" is a comprehensive dictionary that comes from behind.However, due to the progress of the times, social changes, renewal of concepts, and the rapid development of science and culture, most of the encyclopedia entries have increasingly revealed political, scientific, and intellectual fallacies, and have become obsolete. useless.Some errors and shortcomings in the book also follow the omissions of "Ciyuan".Regarding the citations of documentary evidence, some of them were copied from "Pei Wen Yun Fu" and "Pian Zi Lei Bian" without re-checking, which caused false rumors; some documentary evidence did not have titles and volumes.There is also blindness in the collection of some words, and there is a phenomenon that the words of each subject are out of proportion.In addition, there are also mistakes in the interpretation of sound and meaning and the omission of meaning items.In order to meet the needs of readers, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state decided to revise "Ci Hai".The revision work began in the spring of 1958, and Shu Xincheng, Chen Wangdao, and Xia Zhengnong successively served as chief editors. At the beginning of 1962, the Ci Hai Editing Office of Zhonghua Book Company published 16 sub-volumes of "Ci Hai" as a trial version. In April 1965, "Ci Hai" was not finalized. In October 1979, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House published three volumes of "Ci Hai", followed by an abbreviated version in the following year, and a supplementary version of "Ci Hai" in 1983.Since 1985, the 1979 edition of "Ci Hai" has been revised, and the 1989 edition of "Ci Hai" and 26 sub-volumes of the new second edition of "Ci Hai" have been published.The revised 1989 edition of "Ci Hai" has taken on a new look and has become a large-scale reference book with substantial, novel and accurate content, "mainly based on encyclopedias, and taking into account words".