For a long time, the teaching concept of “monism” has made the field of international Chinese teaching focus on “words”, not “Chinese characters”. Chinese characters that are difficult to teach and learn have not been effectively improved. In 2021, the introduction of the “Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education” set a new direction for international Chinese education, and the practice of listing a handwritten Chinese character list separately for the first time also reflects the importance of Chinese character teaching. Long before the introduction of the “Grading Standards”, a small number of international comprehensive Chinese textbooks had compiled handwritten Chinese character lists, but there were many handwritten Chinese characters that were not included in the “Grading Standards”. This kind of Chinese characters or have a large number of strokes, or the shapes of the strokes are more difficult, or the structures are more complex, or the ability to form words is weak, etc., which is exactly the opposite of the characteristics of the “Grading Standards”. According to the results of the relevant analysis, it can provide practical reference for the compilation of Chinese characters in textbooks in the future.

After the invention of woodblock printing in China, It gradually spread to Vietnam and achieved rapid development. Among the existing Sino-Nôm/Chinese-Nôm Literature, there are many Chinese inscriptions, which are valuable materials for studying the Chinese characters used in Vietnam. This paper analyzes the forms of simplified vulgar characters in Vietnamese Chinese printed texts from the perspectives of inheritance and variation. The inherited simplified vulgar characters, mainly include types such as the adoption of “ancient characters,” cursive script standardization, symbol replacement, and partial deletion. The variant simplified vulgar characters, primarily include types such as cursive script variations, reduction variations, and symbol variations. The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the acceptance and usage of Chinese characters in Vietnam, in order to provide a reference for the study of Chinese character cultural exchange and mutual learning in East Asian sphere.

There has been a long history of concern and research on Chinese characters by Western scholars and have achieved fruitful results. According to the current construction of Western Sinology history and the development of Western Chinese Grammatology itself, the history of Western Chinese Grammatology could be divided into five periods: the germination state, the missionary period, the initial stage of specialized Chinese Grammatology in the west, the expansion period of specialized Chinese Grammatology in the west, and the peak period of specialized Chinese Grammatology in the west. The initial stage showed the tendency of specialization, disciplinarity and rationalization. The research subjects included Protestant missionaries, philosophers, politicians and linguists, etc. Systematic research results were obtained in the aspects of characters’ nature, characters’ characteristics, characters’ etymologies, characters’ analysis and characters’ phonology. Under the guidance of comparative linguistics theory, American scholar Peter S. Du Ponceau’s work A Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese System of Writing has conducted in-depth research and elaboration on the nature and characteristics of Chinese characters, which is representative. This paper attempts to take this work as a representative monograph to describe and analyze from the aspects of research content, thoughts of Chinese characters studies, research methods, academic influence and value, deficiencies and limitations, etc., giving an objective evaluation of its value in the evolution of western Chinese Grammatology in the west.

Radicals serve as the central elements in the semantics of Chinese characters, but what foundational and extended meanings do they convey? This paper examines all characters with the radical ‘目’ related to attributes, as recorded in Shuowen Jiezi and The Standard Dictionary of Chinese Characters. In Shuowen Jiezi, the ‘目’ radical encompasses four conceptual categories—physical attributes, scale, color, and value. Specific elements under these categories include physical attributes such as ‘dimness, disease, clarity, order, and dryness,’ scale including ‘size, depth, height, thickness, density,’ value comprising ‘beauty and gentleness,’ and color represented by ‘white.’ Over time, these categories have been substantially reduced, with only physical attributes, limited to ‘dimness’ and ‘disease,’ being retained in later literature. This reduction highlights that ancient Chinese vocabulary contained a broader range of conceptual and semantic elements than modern vocabulary. Additionally, synonyms associated with the attribute concept of ‘目’ have mostly disappeared, while newly introduced vocabulary shows a shift towards polysemy, indicating an evolution in lexical structure. Extended meanings have followed mechanisms such as the expansion from attribute to action, metaphorical extensions, and grammaticalization. Semantic expansion frequently shifted to perceptual verbs, while metaphorical extensions moved from ‘human to object’ and ‘action to time.’ Grammaticalization trends were also observed, extending meanings to adverbial and modal uses. These findings reveal that ancient and modern uses of the ‘目’ radical differ significantly in both meaning and conceptual application.

본 연구는 한국 근대 시기 한자자전에 [華]로 표기된 한자의 유형과 특징을 분석 하여 [華]로 표기된 한자가 무엇을 의미하고 그 속에 포함된 한자의 원류를 찾아 [華]로 표기된 한자의 속성을 규명하기 위한 것이다. 이를 위해 본 연구는 한국 근대 시기에 출판된 자전석요(字典釋要)(1909), 한선문신옥편(漢鮮文新玉篇)(1913), 자 전대해(字典大海)(1913), 자림보주(字林補註)(1924) 등의 한자자전을 중심으로 [華] 로 표기된 한자의 데이터를 추출하고, 추출된 한자의 유형과 특징을 살피면서 [華]로 표기된 한자의 전거(典據)를 확보하고자 한다. 이를 바탕으로 [華]로 표기된 한자의 원류를 파악하고 이 한자들이 한국에서 어떻게 변용되어 사용되는지를 살펴서 한국 근대 시기 한자자전에 [華]로 표기된 한자의 속성을 규명하고자 한다. 이러한 연구는 당시 사용된 한자의 실태와 역사적 변천사의 재구를 실현함으로써 언어 문자학사와 지성사의 연구는 물론 한국 문화의 정체성을 확립하는 토대 연구가 가능하도록 할 것이다. 아울러 한자문화권의 주요 국가인 중국과 일본 등 같은 성격의 자료 비교를 통해서 당시 사용된 한자의 정체성과 역사성을 규명하고자 한다.

As a component of Chinese vulgar characters, the character wen (文) not only serves symbolic functions but also conveys ideographic meanings. Furthermore, its dissemination has led to the emergence of numerous Chinese vulgar characters incorporating the wen (文) components. According to the unearthed literature, the inherited literature and the extraterritorial literature, the wen (文) components exhibits more than ten functions, categorized into three types: symbolic function, combined symbolic and ideographic function, and ideographic function. The former two types primarily reflect its inheritance in neighboring countries, while the latter indicates its diffusion beyond the region. Overall, although the function of the wen (文) component is generally consistent outside its native the domain, it has engendered new forms of vulgar characters, thereby broadening the repertoire of Chinese characters, and these vulgar characters are not devoid of rationale. Analyzing its developmental trajectory and dissemination bears significance for understanding the history of Chinese character evolution and dissemination.

This study employs Generative AI and computational linguistics techniques to analyze the correspondence between modern Korean and Chinese HAN-character sounds. The research focuses on 5,978 characters categorized by difficulty levels, aiming to confirm systematic phonological correspondence patterns. Method: The study utilizes advanced computational methods to examine the phonological relationships between Korean and Chinese characters. It categorizes the characters based on difficulty levels and analyzes their sound patterns. Results: The research confirms high-consistency patterns in Korean onset-Chinese initial and Korean coda-Chinese final mappings. It also identifies complex relationships between Korean vowels and Chinese vowels. The study reveals that Chinese exhibits greater syllable type diversity compared to Korean. Additionally, it finds slightly higher correspondence rates for ‘basic’ characters compared to ‘advanced’ ones, though the overall difference is not substantial. Conclusions: Based on these findings, the study proposes language learning strategies that prioritize high-consistency patterns for foundational phonological correspondence. It recommends adopting gradual approaches for complex correspondences and incorporating phonological knowledge into education. This approach aims to help learners understand commonalities and differences between the two language systems. The research offers insights for Korean language education and HAN-character vocabulary learning. It suggests that consistent learning strategies can be developed regardless of character difficulty. Future research directions include developing AI-based personalized learning systems and conducting longitudinal studies on learners' acquisition of correspondence rules. This study introduces an innovative methodology integrating Generative AI with computational linguistics for phonological analysis. It potentially enhances HAN-character vocabulary education and represents a new paradigm for language education research.

Based on Hanhan Mingwen Dayupian, The Great Chinese Dictionary and Sea of Chinese Characters, Using “font, use, interpretation, pronunciation, order of the five seek each other” method of word examination, this paper conducts a textual research on some difficult characters Contemporary Large-sized Dictionaries in Radical “Che”. The difficult characters to be interpreted mainly include those with incorrect interpretation, unclear interpretation, phonetic errors, incorrect transcription of characters, incorrect identification of variant characters, undifferentiated homographs, common and erroneous characters that have not been communicated with the correct characters, and those that can be supplemented and corrected based on existing interpretation conclusions.

漢字構形學은 한자를 구성하는 단위의 개념을 규정하고 각 단위가 맺는 공시 적, 통시적 관계를 밝혀내어 관계를 지배하는 원리를 기술하는 학문이다. 1980년대 말에 한자구형학 이론이 정립된 후 2002년에 처음 출판된 󰡔漢字構形學講座󰡕부터 10여 년이 지난 후 2015년에 출판된 󰡔漢字構形學導論󰡕까지 내용이 보완되면서 점차 늘어난 편폭 만큼 한자구형학에 대한 저자의 깊은 통찰력도 더욱 분명하게 드러난다. 이 책 서문에서 저자는 한자를 인식하는 데 필요한 두 가지 열쇠가 표의성(表意性)과 형태 구성(構形)의 체계성이라고 강조하고 있으며, 이것은 漢字構形學을 지배하는 기본 원리라고 할 수 있 다. 漢字構形學은 한자의 본체인 ‘형태(形)’에 초점을 맞추어 한자의 형태가 구성되고 변화하는 과정에서 나타나는 ‘현상’을 연구하며, 그 이론을 관통하고 있는 핵심 주제는 한자의 ‘체계성’이다. 체계성의 핵심 의미는 그 체계를 구성하는 요소 간의 유기적 관계 에 있다. 이 책은 한자의 본체인 자형(字形)을 중심으로 한자 체계의 내부적, 외부적 요 소 간의 ‘관계’를 폭넓게 다루고 있다. 그리고 한자 체계 내부에 존재하는 각종 관계와 외 부 요소와의 관계는 통시적인 형태 변화 과정에서 나타나는 현상을 근거로 증명한다. 이 책은 이론적인 문제의 해결에서 ‘관계’를 기술하여 설명하고 ‘근거’를 들어 ‘증명’하는 한 자학의 학술적 의미를 되새기게 한다.

The same character or word has two opposite meanings, and this phenomenon is called the enantiosemy in traditional Chinese. It was as early as 1728 that Joseph de Prémare concerned about this special phenomenon in the Chinese language. In the book Notitia Linguae Sinicae, he cited four examples of Chinese enantiosemy characters such as “Luan”(亂), “Du”(毒), “Gu”(蠱) and “Qing”(清). Later in 1891, G. Schlegel published an article entitled “On the Causes of Antiphrasis in Language” in T’oung Pao, in which nearly twenty Chinese enantiosemy characters were listed and analysed. Upon closer examination, some of the Chinese enantiosemy characters cited by Joseph de Prémare and G. Schlegel do not stand up to scrutiny, because they are not objective and clear enough in terms of a basic but crucial issue - the connotation of the “enantios” in the enantiosemy. This paper analyses all the Chinese enantiosemy characters listed by Joseph de Prémare and G. Schlegel, and summarises Western scholars’ perceptions of the “enantios” in the enantiosemy. On the basis of the compilation of Chinese scholars’ viewpoints, the connotation of the “enantios” in the enantiosemy is clearly defined as “opposite” and “relative” two areas; and mainly borrowed from the research results of the antonym, the “enantios” is divided into four types of relationship such as the complementarity, the antonym, the converseness and the pragmatic.

Cefu Yuangui (冊府元龜) extensively quotes texts from the Book of the Later Han (後漢書), containing numerous variant readings. By employing computer technology to digitize various paper versions of Cefu Yuangui and Book of the Later Han, and through programming comparisons supplemented with manual proofreading, a database of variant readings where Cefu Yuangui cites the Book of the Later Han was established. From this database, 75 sets of ancient and modern characters were sorted out. The majority of these cases involve the use of ancient characters in the Book of the Later Han and modern characters in Cefu Yuangui, with a few instances in reverse, but there are also cases where both texts use a mix of ancient and modern characters. This reveals the characteristics of the times of the emergence and use of ancient and modern characters during the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, as well as the Two Song Dynasties. Some conclusions drawn from this study can provide references and insights for further improvements of the revised version of Cefu Yuangui.

The two most well-known Chinese characters dictionaries are Songben Yupian from China and Quanyun Yupian from Korea. These dictionaries contain a wealth of information on Chinese characters at the diachronic and synchronic level, while also retaining much information on Chinese characters during the period of its movement overseas. This paper is a corpus-based study which analyzes the differences in the style of arrangement, phonetic notation mode, interpretation, form interpretation, and other aspects of the two dictionaries, and further summarizes the laws of the development of Chinese characters in overseas dissemination. The result of this study indicates that the function of the two dictionaries is different, that the Chinese characters remained stable during their transmission to other countries, and that the overall trend in the evolution of the characters is toward simplification, and that the main way that Chinese characters morph extraterritorially is via phonetic and semantic replacement.

Chinese ancient wordbook of standard characters is a type of character book that establishes a standard style for the writing of Chinese characters. This article selects seven types of character books, including the Tang Dynasty’s Ganlu Zishu, Wujing Wenzi, Xinjia Jiujing Ziyang, the Song Dynasty’s Fugu Bian, the Yuan Dynasty’s Zi Jian, the Ming Dynasty’s Sushu Kanwu, and the Qing Dynasty’s Zengguang Zixue Juyu. Through a review and analysis of their research status, it is determined that the style of character books is mainly explored from three aspects: character collection, bibliography, and arrangement style. Chinese ancient wordbook of standard characters has the characteristics of small volume and stable quantity in the collection of characters. In terms of typography, the form of the prefix has gone through a process of typography, from typography to typography, and gradually fixed to typography; Except for the “Fugu Bian”, all fonts are in regular script and stand out; Except for the “Ganlu Zishu”, all prefix categories are listed in regular script. In terms of arrangement style, the Ganlu Zishu has had a profound impact on future generations of character books. More character books use phonetic order, and are all based on four tones, with rhyme as the main focus. The use of radical method in the “Wujing Wenzi” and “Xinjia Jiujing Ziyang” is different from the radical in the “Shuowen Jiezi” in terms of the number, form, and order of radicals, mainly reflecting the trend of radical function transformation from structure to character inspection.

본 연구의 목적은 공동체 미학이 애니메이션 캐릭터 창조에 어떻게 적 용되는지를 탐구하는 것으로, 중국 애니메이션 영화 <강자아>를 사례로 삼았다. 본 논문은 텍스트 연구 방법을 사용하여 <강자아> 내의 캐릭터 와 줄거리를 심층 분석함으로써 공동체 미학의 구체적인 적용을 탐구한 다. 이에는 공동체 미학의 기본 개념과 이론 틀 소개는 물론 <강자아> 내 주요 캐릭터의 감정 공명과 연결에 대한 심층 분석을 포함한다. 공동 체 미학이 문화 전달 분야에서의 중요성을 설명하고, <강자아>의 사례 분석을 통해 공동체 요소가 캐릭터 형성과 스토리 전개에 미치는 영향을 보여준다.연구 결과는 공동체 미학이 애니메이션 캐릭터 창조에 중요한 적용 가치를 가지며 <강자아>는 공동체 미학의 개념을 성공적으로 활용 했음을 보여준다. 이는 중국 애니메이션 영화의 창작을 풍부하게 하고 관객에게 깊은 감정 체험과 문화적 성찰을 제공한다. 그것은 중국 애니 메이션 영화의 발전에 유익한 시사점과 참고를 제공하며, 캐릭터의 감정 적 깊이와 복잡성을 통해 관객이 감정 공명을 느끼고 영화의 줄거리에서 공동체의 힘을 체감할 수 있도록 한다. 공동체 미학의 적용은 관객의 감 정적 체험과 문화적 이해를 깊게 하는 데 도움이 된다.

In recent years, many Vietnamese and International researchers have been interested in two aspects of Vienamese variant Chinese charaters – International variants and national variants. International variant characters here are Chinese characters originating from China. National variant characters are Chinese characters created by each country under the Chinese cultural influence, such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan. In order to clarify the charateristics of Vienamese unique variant Chinese charaters (national variants), we analyzed two Buddhist texts: The first one is Chư phẩm kinh 諸品經 (there are 187 variant Chinese charaters correspond to 183 standard charaters with total number of appearance is 1,697); the second one is Thích thị bảo dỉnh hành trì bí chỉ toàn chương 釋氏寶鼎行持秘旨全章 (there are 56 variant Chinese characters correspond to 41 standard characters with total number of appearance is 243).

한자는 특유의 고유성을 지닌 문자언어의 또 다른 형식이며, 인류 문명사의 중 요한 자산 중 하나이다. 그럼에도 표음문자 중심의 시각에서는 한자가 전근대적인 문자 로 폄훼되는 경우들이 많았다. 본서는 바로 이러한 인식의 전환의 필요성과 함께, 한자가 가진 형체-의미 간 통합성에 따른 문화적 보고로서의 가치와 의의를 인식해야 함을 강조 하고 있다. 저자는 이와 같은 주장을 뒷받침하기 위해 다양한 한자들의 형체와 의미를 분 석하였고, 이 형체-의미 간의 연관성을 입증하기 위해 방대한 문자·문헌·문화 자료들을 활용하였다. 저자는 또한 한자의 고유성과 가치에 대한 인식이 동양의 가치와 위상을 바 로잡을 수 있는 첫걸음이며, 또한 이러한 인식의 확장은 인류 문명사를 통합적 관점에서 바라볼 수 있는 중요한 계기를 마련할 수 있음을 역설하고 있다.

To transform old words into new words is a very efficient mode of word derivation in contemporary Chinese, which mainly involves the transformation of word form and the transformation of meaning. In the process of transforming the old words language users have created a lot of new words that are very novel in form or meaning based on the relationship between Chinese characters in terms of sound, shape and meaning or the structural features of Chinese characters. This paper lists more than 130 new appellations including sound-based words, form-based words, meaning-based words and words produced by changing the structure of Chinese characters, names the ways how old words transform into new words as JieYinFuXing, XieYinFuYi, BieJieFuYi, FanBeiFuYi, GaiZiBianXing and describes the transformation process of these words. These lexical phenomenons reflect some language psychology such as pursuing new differences, playing jokes and mental association. They have some impacts on the lexical system of contemporary Chinese as they open up new ways for the generation and change of contemporary Chinese words, they supplement the word-making methods and lead to some unconventional combinations in contemporary Chinese lexis. This paper intends to further clarify the important role of Chinese characters in word creation and word development, and deepen the understanding of Chinese Character study and contemporary Chinese lexicology.

The origin and evolution of Chinese characters (hanzi, 漢字), the reasons for its stability and longevity, and its future are some core issues in the study of Chinese characters. We have proposed three research models to tackle these problems: (1). Taking advantage of the logographic nature of Chinese characters, we have used a mathematical model to show that the Chinese writing should have already existed no later than 2100 BCE. (2). We have adopted the “funnel model” of protein folding in biochemistry to illustrate the landscape at the beginning of Chinese writing and how it evolved into a stable writing system. (3). We have proposed an ecological model for studying the past and future of Chinese characters. Based on these models, together with systematic archaeological study of pottery inscriptions and DNA analysis of human skeletons unearthed from various neolithic cultural sites, this article discuss specific issues related to the genesis, the longevity and the future growth of Chinese characters in the context of ecological model of Chinese characters. Particularly, how Chinese characters can be prepared to respond to future challeneges in a world of globalization and dataism.

This article investigates several examples of “Japanese Popular Characters (倭俗字)” in the four works of Zheng Kai Lu (正楷錄), Wo Kai Zheng E (倭楷正訛), Tong wen Tong Kao (同文通考), and Sheng Wen Zuan Kao (省文纂考) in the Edo Period of Japan, and finds that the judgment of Edo scholars is not completely accurate. “ (樂)” can be found in Japanese and Korean literature. “ (圖)” can be seen in Japanese and Vietnamese literature. The symbol “ ” can be found in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese literature instead of vulgar characters. The character “豊 (豐)” can be found throughout the Chinese character sphere in East Asia. And “釈(釋)”, “訳 (譯)”, “円 (圓)”, “囲 (圍)”, though not in contemporary Chinese literature, but modern visible. It is necessary to study the Popular Characters from the perspective of Chinese character sphere in East Asia.

In the encyclopedia as the example of the book Gu Jin Shi Lin to record the number of Chinese Characters Vocabulary in Korean at Joseon era which was written by Li Yifeng like a Zhuxi’s scholars. From diachronic perspective, it is of great value in the study of Chinese word form, sound and meaning, spoken Chinese words and the oversea spread of Chinese vocabulary. It cannot be ignored that the Chinese characters and words collected at that time not only reflect the use of spoken words in the time when the book was written, but also provide fresh corpus for the study of modern Chinese characters and words, overseas sinology, overseas transmission of Chinese characters and other studies. By introducing the related content, the hope can cause the attention of academic circles.