Chinese Reference Books for Chinese Studies: A Brief Survey

中文研究工具书分类

Youxuan Wang

2011-03-06

This note lists the (1) typical types, (2) elements, (3) indexing methods, and (4) bibliography of Chinese reference books for Chinese studies. More detailed discussions of these issues are given in lectures or separate articles.

Types of reference books for Chinese studies 中文研究工具书的类型

Type	Examples
字典、词典	Either zidian“字典”or cidian“词典”translates the English term “dictionary”. The former, however, is mainly a term for dictionary of characters, whereas the latter a term for dictionary of characters as well as phrases. The following books are the commonly used dictionaries of characters and phrases: 《说文解字》: 《康熙字典》: 《辞海》: 《辞源》: 《汉语大字典》: 《汉语大字典》: 《古代汉语常用字典》: 《现代汉语词典》: 《新华字典》:
百科全书	《中国大百科全书》
类书	《永乐大典》、《古今图书集成》、《月日纪古》
年鉴	《中国考古年鉴》、《中国语言学年鉴》、《中国文学年鉴》、《中国历史学年鉴》、《中国哲学年鉴》
手册	《居家必备》(元·阴时夫)、《万宝全书》(清·石天基)
索引	《说文通检》、《杜诗引得》、《四库全书总目录及未收书目引得》
目录	《四库全书总目录》、《出三藏记集》、《开元释教录》、《综理众经目录》
图谱	《地理指掌图》、《水经注图注》

Typical elements of a reference books工具书的典型部件

编辑者	Editor/ Compiler - the identity of the editors is often indicative of the financial and human resources that have been invested on the production of a reference book.
版本	Edition - details of the edition of the book. Some reference books are revised at regular intervals, and the contents and style of a specific reference may vary greatly
序	Foreword - written often by someone whom the author/editor/publisher respects as an authority or sponsor. The contents of a foreword vary, but they normally include a historical review of the discipline in question, and an evaluation of the present reference book.
绪论	Introduction - written normally by the author or chief editor himself, outlining the subject matter, research method and arguments of the book.
凡例	Manual/ Instruction - Explaining the contents, organization of the book, giving instructions on how to use the book
正文	Main body text.
附录	Supplements -  which may be tables, timelines, glossary, bibliography, index etc.
跋	Epilogue - written by the author/chief editor, giving somewhat personal story of the circumstances in which the book was produced; always placed at the end of the book.

(3) Typical organisation methods for the body text of a Chinese reference book

Org. Meth.	Examples
字序法	部首法，笔数法、笔形法、号码法、音序法
传统分类法	类书： 天、地、人、事、物 四部： 经：     3 sub-sections: 六经及其注疏 （《诗》、《书》、《礼》、《易》、《春秋》 ）、儒家圣人典籍及其注疏 （《中庸》、《大学》、《论语》、《孟子》 、《孝经》）、小学 (字书 -《尔雅》、《说文解字》; 韵书；训诂学) 史：      15 sub-sections: 正史、编年、纪事、别史、诏令奏议、传记、史抄、载记、时令、地理、官职、政书、目录、史评 子：      14 subsections: 儒、兵、法、农、医、天文算术、术数、艺术、谱录、杂家、类书、小说、释家、道家 集：      楚辞，别集、总集、诗文评、词曲
新分类法	五大基本分类 二十个分类 详见：< http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国图书馆分类法>
主题法	《中国大百科全书》按学科分册。
时序法	二十四史按朝代分册。
地序法	中国各级地方志按地方分册。

(4) Bibliography 书目

(4a) Printed publications:

‘Zhongguo Tushuguan fenleifa diwuban zhengshi faxing《中国图书馆分类法》第五版正式出版发行 (The 5^th Edition of the Chinese Library Classification is published)’. The National Library of China. Aug. 2010. <http://www.nlc.gov.cn/syzt/2010/0901/article_557.htm> [Accessed 6 Feb 2011.]

(4b) Online Sources:

汉典网四部古籍: <http://gj.zdic.net/> (Digital versions of the classical textual materials of the pre-Qin and imperial period are arranged according to the traditional four-branch (sibu 四部) system. The Handian website (www.zdic.net) runs the most ambitious online dictionary project to date, and it has the largest and most update character set for the display of ancient scripts. This particular archive provided online there is very rich and well-organised, but the digital texts themselves are not yet edited properly, due to lack of full-time staff.)

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