Abstract
In October 2023, The Handbook of Chinese Writing Systems (中国文字学手册) (Zang et.al. 2023) was published, in Chinese language, by East China Normal University Press, This had been considered as a long-awaited event by many in the global grammatology community. The handbook was organized and compiled by the Center for the Study and Application of Chinese Characters of East China Normal University, a national key research institute of social sciences and humanities. It is the first professional reference book giving an introduction to the study of Chinese grammatology that not only emphasizes the disciplinary system, but also reflects a wide array of new historical materials and research advancements in many fields of grammatology in time. In the sense of the popularization of discipline and specialty construction, the handbook emerges as a crucial addition to the current scholarly literature.
Contents of the handbook
The handbook is the result of a rigorous academic research, which includes six chapters and 28 sections divided into six parts. The main contents are as follows.
Chapter 1: the introduction, including the origin of Chinese characters and the type of Chinese characters.
Chapter 2: the theory of Chinese characters, including the nature, structure and simplification of Chinese characters, and modern Chinese characters.
Chapter 3: Chinese characters in history, including oracle bone inscriptions, Shang and Zhou bronze inscriptions, bamboo and silk scripts, stone inscriptions, small seal scripts, pottery inscriptions, coin inscriptions, seal inscriptions, paper manuscripts and other material types.
Chapter 4: the application of Chinese characters, covering Chinese characters and computer technology, calligraphy, teaching and cultural studies of Chinese characters.
Chapter 5: non-Chinese scripts in China, including Tangut script, Khitan script, Jurchen script, Sogdian script, Uighur script, Mongolian script, Manchu script, Tocharian script, Khotanese, Tibetan script, Phags-pa Scripts, Sawndip, Hmong writing, Bai script, Kam writing, Yi script, Lisu script, Shui script and Naxi Dongba script, totaling 19 types of non-Chinese scripts.
Chapter 6: Chinese characters in the Sinographosphere, including Chinese characters and kana in Japan and the use of Chinese characters in Korea.
Features of the handbook
The book has a prestigious author team, composed of 23 experts and scholars who are well trained in various fields of Chinese grammatology. It includes scholars specializing in various historical periods; specialists in non-Chinese scripts derived from Chinese characters; and senior sinologists and scholars of Chinese characters in the Sinographosphere, such as Yonsei University in Korea, Waseda University in Japan, and so on.
Clear structure: (1) from the perspective of content composition, the handbook encompasses the major subfields of Chinese grammatology; (2) from the perspective of the internal logical relationship of all topics, the handbook provides specific introductions, authoritative insights and comprehensive guidance on core issues of Chinese grammatology concerned, and summarizes the cutting-edge results of today's grammatological research, and to some extent foresees the future development trend of grammatological research at different levels. The typical style of each topic is as follows: (1)exact definitions of terms and representative graphic examples; (2)history of the subject unit, and major arguments and issues in the field; (3)revelation of the latest developments and hot topics; (4)anticipation of the development trend of major topics in related fields, and the issues worthy of research in the future.
Combination of theory and practice: each chapter of the handbook is a typical academic paper on grammatological research. At the same time, the language is concise and clear, making it easier for readers in various fields in the Sinographosphere. It embodies the views, theories and research methods of many linguists and covers a wide range of fields and conducts research on multi-disciplinary groups in different subject areas. There is not only the study of the ontology of Chinese characters, but also the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural description of many national characters adapted from Chinese characters.
The advantages of the handbook
In recent decades, a wide variety of textual materials have been newly excavated and investigated. New publications that compile research results are constantly emerging, predominantly consisting of various large-scale classification reference books and specialized books by periods, as well as books of summaries of Chinese characters and introductions to Chinese character applications based on the needs of modern Chinese teaching. However, a truly encyclopedic “reference book” is still needed that can cover the whole knowledge system of Chinese characters and reflect the cutting-edge developments in various fields of Chinese grammatology, one with a moderate length for facilitating future translation and reading.
Furthermore, the world’s pictographic writings, which can be traced back to as early as 4000 years ago, are pearls of human wisdom with manifold structures and types. They are rich sources for historical and cultural investigations. However, the lack of systematic integrity of the semantographic writings consequently leads to the failure of integration of the two major writing systems—semantographic and phonographic. Chinese grammatology has a long history in the history of world civilization, but there is no clear, explicit and standardized terminology system for “grammatology” (science of Chinese characters) among different languages. That is to say, the terminology system of Chinese grammatology has always been lacking in western dictionaries. Its publication, to a certain extent, solves the difficult problem of constructing the disciplinary system of Chinese grammatology. It can be expected that this will provide suitable translations for the teaching, research and use of Chinese characters in various regions of the world, and lay a foundation for the common understanding of “grammatology” in relevant dictionaries in various countries, and thus contribute to the communication and integration of the two major writing systems.
Finally, the handbook can be regarded as an “encyclopedia” of grammatology. It can provide important information resources and research clues for researchers in related fields who seek authoritative overviews of grammatology topics, theories and methodologies, and serve as a textbook for beginners in grammatology. The establishment of the basic terminology system of Chinese grammatology provides a theoretical basis for promoting disciplinary development and international communication. The handbook, with a standard stylistic format, will also be a good source for future multilingual translation.