Han Wei Yin (漢魏音), Qing dynasty scholar Hong Liangji’s first research work on Chinese phonosemantics, quotes the phonetic annotations of Han Confucianist in dozens of classic books, includes 2057 characters (words) and 2457 phonetic annotations, which presents the relations of pronunciation and meaning of Han and Wei dynasties in a comprehensively way. Meanwhile, Han Wei Yin (漢魏音) shows Hong Liangji’s great skills of textology and collation. He emended the characters’ errors in handed-down documents and demonstrated the right relations of pronunciation and meaning by combining the collation with the study of pronunciation and meaning. Han Wei Yin (漢魏 音) expanded a new vision of the study of the ancient phonology in Qing dynasty, completed the systematic compilation of phonetic annotations in Han and Wei dynasties, and researched the matching relations of Chinese pronunciation and meaning in Han and Wei dynasties. The collation and utilization of Han Wei Yin (漢魏音) is a project that needs to be discussed deeply.

The Study of Chinese Sound and Meaning is an emergent discipline formed by the convergence of various academic fields such as philology, phonology, exegesis, grammar, and bibliography. This subject is dedicated to exploring the correspondence of sound and meaning of Chinese language throughout history, especially ancient Chinese. Its research encompasses, but is not limited to, the following areas: (1) Theoretical, material, and methodological issues in the Study of Chinese Sound and Meaning; (2) The essential differences and connections between phonetic annotations in Chinese phonosemantic books, rhyme dictionaries, and dictionaries of Chinese characters; (3) The relationships between phonetic annotations and the Chinese character glyphs; (4) Integrated research on phonetics, semantics, and grammar; (5) The systematic evolution and development of the correspondence of Chinese sound and meaning; (6) The compilation and study of Chinese phonosemantic literature, and more. The Study of Chinese Sound and Meaning requires the integrated use of multidisciplinary research tools such as philology, phonology, exegesis, grammar, textual research, digital humanities, etc., and thus has strong interdisciplinary attributes. As a typical interdisciplinary subject, the establishment of the Study of Chinese Sound and Meaning responds to the objective needs of academic development in the new era.

In Northern Song Dynasty, the book Qun Jing Yin Bian by Jia Changchao (賈昌朝) specifically selected and analyzed the sound and meaning matching relationships of the sound and meaning materials in the annotations of multiple classics, which were recorded in the Jing Dian Shi Wen (經典釋文), and systematically classified and arranged them into five categories. Qun Jing Yin Bian inaugurated the systematic study of sound and meaning matching in history, specifically exploring the matching relationships between Chinese sound and meaning. It is a research work on Chinese phonosemantics in the disciplinary sense. Qun Jing Yin Bian has achieved a qualitative transformation from the compilation of basic sound and meaning materials to the exploration of research-oriented sound and meaning matching relationships, which has important historical significance in the development of Chinese phonosemantics.