In the history of Chinese academics, Xu Shen’s Shuowen Jiezi (hereinafter referred to as Shuowen) is known as “the first of its kind in the world” because it has the dual characteristics of explaining the form, sound, and meaning of Chinese characters and the characteristics of theoretical works on philology, both of which are practical. It has not only become a treasure of codex for the compilation of character books and exegesis, but also laid down the basic patterns of traditional philology and biblio-linguistics, with far-reaching influence. Many scholars have researched Shuowen in the past dynasties, resulting in the formation of an independent thematic discipline called Shuowen, also known as Xuxue (許學). According to Ding Fubao (丁福保), Shuowen jiezi Gulin (hereinafter referred to as Gulin) attached to the Yingyong Zhushu Xingshi Lu (引用諸書姓氏錄) statistics, there were as many as 203 people in the Qing Dynasty who studied and wrote Shuowen. In fact, there are many scholars and their achievements that are not included in the statistics. After Gulin, especially in the last 30 years, a lot of new materials of scholars in the Qing Dynasty who studied the Shuowen have been excavated and published. Most of these new materials are dispersed in their original state in different large series, so they are rarely researched and utilized, and their documentary and scholarly value is in urgent need of formal recognition. Based on the preliminary results of the major project of the National Social Science Foundation (21&ZD299) chaired by Li Yunfu (李運富), this article discusses the excavation, collation, and research of new materials on Shuowen in the Qing Dynasty.

Shuowen is not only a classic of philology, but also a classic in the history of Chinese linguistics. The construction history of Shuowen’s canonization is also the history of its acceptance and dissemination. The Han and Wei dynasties are the preparation period for the canonization of Shuowen, from Tang Dynasty to early Song Dynasty is the establishment period, the song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties are the development period, the Qing Dynasty is the golden period, and the modern and contemporary times are the transformation period. The classic quality of Shuowen is the essential factor of its canonization. The influence of social environment, the promotion of political forces, the interpretation, research and care of readers in previous dynasties, and the development of printing are also important external factors of its canonization construction. Its classical construction path shows three characteristics: the instrumentality of Chinese character books, Confucian dependence and the academic nature of Chinese character theory.

Shuowen Jiezi compiled by XU Shen is the first dictionary in China to systematically explain meaning of character, decompose font and distinguish pronunciation of words. The book shows a variety of Chinese fonts before the Eastern Han and records ancient sound materials and culture of Chinese character. Scholars of all dynasties attaches great importance to Shuowen Jiezi after the publication of Shuowen Jiezi. A lots of classic ancient works regard the explanatory notes of Shuowen Jiezi as an important basis, and quote the content of Shuowen Jiezi to annotate has become a common method of academic research. Analysising and Researching content of the materials quoted from Shuowen Jiezi in all kinds of literature is helpful to explore the original appearance of Shuowen and the development law of Chinese characters. Wuche Yunrui is a non-official encyclopedias book compiled by Ming’s historian LING Zhilong which collected and collated classic words, poems and allusions to become an important tool for ancient literary creation to select words and allusions and rhyme couplets. Arrangement of Wuche Yunrui is following the rhyme. That is each word and allusion is collected into each rhyme according to the rhyme at the end of the word, and fully explainning the meaning, pronunciation and font of the first word of each rhyme. Wuche Yunrui widely quotes many ancient literatures and materials such as Shuowen Jiezi, Erya, Shiming, Guangyun, Yupian, Jiyun to definite the first word of rhyme, among which quotes the most from Shuowen Jiezi. This study takes definition content of Shuowen Jiezi quoted by Wuche Yunrui as the research object. On the basis of exhaustively collecting the definition materials of Shuowen quoted by Wuche Yunrui, taking current version of XU Xuan’s Shuowen Jiezi as the comparison object, the paper compares the definition materials of Shuowen quoted by Ling Zhilong’s Wuche Yunrui with current version of XU Xuan’s Shuowen Jiezi, corrects the errors and omissions of this two books, analyzes the reasons for the different definitions, and finds out meaning evolution process and law of Chinese characters.

In Ron-chens of Shangbo bamboo slips, there is “A Lou (僂)”. The first word should be read as “Fu (㾈)” in Shuowen, which refers to a hunchback. The “Fu Lou (㾈僂)” is a continuous word, which also refers to a hunchback. In the second edition of Ron-chens, there is “Lou Zhe B Shu (僂者數)”, in which “Shu (數)” should be read as “Lou (塿)” which is called “Mei T Ye (塺土也)” by Xu Xuan, it is cited as “Mo Tu Ye (摩土也)” by Xu Kai, Wang Niansun is changed to “Li T Ye (歴土也)”. According to Shangbo bamboo slips, Xu Kai is right. Bamboo slips here refer to the work of flattening loose land for hunchbacks. In Two-year Law of Zhangjiashan bamboo slips, there is “C Ren (人)”. The first word should be read as “Mian (眄)”, which refers to the blindness of human eyes in the Two-year Law and the Han bamboo slips of Xuanquan. The word “Mian (眄)” in Shuowen says “Mu Pian He Ye (目偏合也)”, There is no exact example in the ancient books, and the unearthed documents can prove their faith and have evidence.

Shuowen Tongxun Dingsheng 說文通訓定聲, as a representative work by Zhu Junsheng who is a famous expert in study of Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字(hereafter Shuowen) in Qing Dynasty, consists of three parts: Shuowen 說文, Tongxun 通訓, and Dingsheng 定聲. This book in Shuowen the part is based on the word meaning system, and corrected the error of explaining the original meaning. It includes the following eight types: 1. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because of the wrong glyph analysis; 2. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because of the philosophical thoughts of yin and yang five elements; 3. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because the intending meaning is wrongly regarded as original meaning; 4. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because the loaning meaning is wrongly regarded as original meaning; 5. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because the contextual meaning is wrongly regarded as original meaning; 6. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because the meaning of continuous words is wrongly regarded as original meaning; 7. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because the meaning of overlapping words is wrongly regarded as original meaning; 8. corrected the error of explaining the original meaning of Shuowen because the language source meaning is wrongly regarded as original meaning. The value and significance of these researches lie in helping to use materials in Shuowen correctly and scientifically, and helping to understand the way of interpretating Shuowen.

Since Xu Xuan revised Shuowen and supplemented it with “Newly Appended Characters”, the study on it has become an important part of the Shuowen studies. There are three main viewpoints developed in later generations on how to understand “Newly Appended Characters”. First, totally negative one, such as Qian Daxin. The second is that “Newly Appended Characters” is based on the orthographic Characters since the Tang Dynasty, such as Wang Mingsheng. Last, it is believed that it is inherent in Shuowen before the Tang Dynasty, such as Yan Kejun. In this paper, a textual research of 52 newly appended characters has been taken by both using the data of Shuowen cited in Huilin Yinyi慧琳音義 and combining it with the previous literature. It is speculated that one of the 402 newly appended characters of Xu Xuan’s gain is originally owned by the ancient version of Shuowen.

Shuowen Etymologies and an Arrangement by Sounds《說文通訓定聲》, as a representative work by Zhu Junsheng who is a famous expert in study of Shuowen Jiezi《說文解字》 in Qing Dynasty, consists of three parts: Shuowen (說文), Tongxun (通訓), and Dingsheng (定聲). Amongst them, Tong xun consists of Zhuanzhu (轉注) and Jiajie (假借). The quest for original words in the course of making scientific researches on Jiajie is highly important for us to make researches on ancient literature. Analyzing the mistakes and causes of the formation of multiple original words in the text of Shuowen Etymologies and an Arrangement by Sounds, we discover that there are the following types of errors in multiple original words in the text: 1. The different ancient annotations form the basis for the study on original words and multiple original words; 2. The faux creation of original words is made by considering a group of synonyms as original words; 3. Interchangeable words are wrongly regarded as original words; 4. The intending meaning is wrongly regarded as loaning meaning. The reasons for such mistakes can be further attributed to two major aspects: 1. The strong concept of original words of Zhu Junsheng who wrongly believes all Jiajie have original words; 2. There are some problems in the understanding of the meaning of words. Although Zhu Junsheng’s understanding of the connotation of original words is correct, the meaning, in practice, is a very complicated problem. Therefore, it is easy to make mistakes when the actual judgement takes place.

Abundant cultural information is included in the items for names, marriage and family, Zi or Hao, and the description of women in Shuowen, a noted Chinese dictionary. The research and analysis on it will help us understand the customs, morals, social systems, tastes and habits of thought in ancient China, and comprehend the basic characteristics and spirits of Chinese culture.

This study was designed to show how ancient Chinese understood the concept of truth through characters listed in Shuowen Jiezi, the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters (A.D.100). In my previous research, I examined the interconnectedness of „zhen‟ (貞) and „zhen‟ (眞) as cognate words, to show how ancient Chinese developed a concept of „truth‟ early on. In this paper, I would like to clarify how ancient Chinese thought about truth/falsehood, right/wrong, and assent/dissent through interpreting the meaning of characters with shi 是 („true‟) or fei 非 („false‟) as a components in Shuowen. I analyze shi 是 („true‟), 25 characters having 是 as a component (2 characters having 是 as a semantic part, 23 characters having 是 as a sound part), fei 非 (false), and 35 characters having 非 as a component (5 characters having 非 as a semantic part, 30 characters having 非 as a sound part). I further analyze fú 弗, signifying „not‟, and 17 characters having 弗 as a component (17 characters having 弗 as a sound part and 0 character having 弗 as a semantic part), because 非 and 弗 are similar in meaning and usages. Taking into consideration all the different meanings represented by these characters, I divide them into three categories: (1) characters for depiction of the object in question with distinctive features, (2) characters for regulation, and (3) characters representing value. The first category include 14 characters having 是 as a component (56%), 3 characters having 非 as a component (16%), 1 character having 非 as a component (6%). As the second, 4 characters having 是 as a component (16%), 23 characters having 非 as a component (66%), 4 character having 非 as a component (24%) are included. 5 characters having 是 as a component (20%), 3 characters having 非 as a component (9%), 12 character having 非 as a component (71%) are classified as the third. I hope this paper is to stimulate related research by providing the origins, historical development and detailed interpretation of truth-related characters, and so be able to advance toward more insightful writings on truth.

본고는 大徐本《說文解字》와《說文解字繫傳》중에 ‘亦聲’ 계열의 글자 94개를 분석하고, 徐鉉 과 徐鍇이 亦聲字를 판별할 당시의 개인적 차이와 태도에 대해 살펴보았다. 연구를 통해 94개의 글자 중에서 許慎의 분석에 오류가 있는 5개를 발견하였고, 그들을 제외하고 大徐本《說文解字》에서는 57개, 《說文解字繫傳》에서는 24개의 글자가 있으며, ‘역성’으로 분석 할 수 있는 글자를 모두 합하면 모두 74개가 있고, 두 책 모두 평균 2개의 분석 오류가 있었으며, 어떻게 분석을 진행해야 하는지 어려운 6개 글자가 있음을 알 수 있었다. 분석 이후에 徐鉉이 교정본을 제작할 당시 매우 신중하고 엄밀하였음을 알 수 있었으며, 그가 자신이 연구한 자의의 연구 성과를 매우 중시하여 실현하고 있음을 밝힐 수 있었다.