《六書准’研究

"Liushu Zhun" by Feng Dingdiao, a linguist of the late Ming to early Qing Dynasty, is a monograph on "Liushu". It draws upon the previous researches in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, and provides great significance for initiating the study of the "Liushu" in the Qing dynasty. In addition, Feng, dedicating himself to the study of categories of Chinese characters, takes the responsibility of rectifying Chinese characters’forms and definitions, as well as identifying folk characters. His study is still of great reference significance for the current research of both standard and folk characters. However, the book has never been paid enough attention to since its publication. Besides, the remark about the book in the authoritative Sikuquanshu zongmutiyao, which says "Despite its elaboration of characters’ancient meanings, the book does not clarify the’Liushu’", further makes the scholars deprecate it. For this reason, the paper is intended to systematically expound the book within five chapters, in the hope of providing an objective evaluation of it.Chapter1is a four-part introduction. First, a brief introduction to the selection of the topic and the literature review of the research on "Liushu Zhun "; second, the textual research on the biography of Feng Dingdiao, the author of the book; third, the background and aim of Feng’s writing the book; lastly, the scrutiny of the various versions of the book.Chapter2mainly expounds the books’stylistic rules, focusing on two aspects: compilation style and annotation style. In the matter of compilation style, the book takes the four categories of Chinese characters, i.e, pictograms, simple ideograms, compound ideograms, and phonograms, as its longitude to command the whole book, and the four tones in classical Chinese phonetics, i.e, level tone, falling-rising tone, falling tone, and entering tone, as its latitude to connect the characters in every category, and the characters with the same tone are compiled according to their rhyme. Because Feng thinks of "mutually defining" and "phonetic loan" as two principles of using existing characters instead of creating new ones, he compiles such characters into the four categories of Chinese characters mentioned above. Therefore, the book commands the characters according to their forms and the events according to their rhymes, thus forming an overall layout. As for the annotation, it involves three parts:phonetics, forms and meanings. The general rule is:firstly, for each seal form character, the corresponding regular form of smaller size is given after it; if the seal form character has an ancient form, then it is given before the character. In a character’s annotation, firstly its Fanqie sound is given; secondly, its meaning is explained, sometimes illustrated by citing the previous documentary sources and theories; thirdly, the character’s form is interpreted, and if there is a different way of interpretation, it is introduced following the formulation "another interpretation"; fourthly, its extending meanings, mutually explanatory character and borrowed meanings are listed; finally, its form and meanings are rectified.Chapter3is about the theory of "Liushu", which is the core of the book. Feng not only absorbs the previous achievements in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, but also carries forward them. For instance, he breaks through the traditional classification of "Liushu", which uses ancient sounds to annotate current sounds, and reclassifies them from the perspective of characters’structures and forms, demonstrating his initiative spirit. The first six parts of the chapter focus on Feng’s "Liushu", and the seventh part summarizes his inheritance of the "Style and Application Theory "Liushu".Chapter4is on the Chinese characters classification in the book. It consists of two parts. The first is to discuss the research achievements and problems in the current study of ancient characters, and the second, the research range, categories and problems in the study of folk characters. Besides, some confusing characters are also rectified in this chapter.Chapter5is an overall evaluation of the book, including both its strong and weak points.