Xushen
Xushen (SHEW-shehn) was a prominent Confucian scholar and lexicographer during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE), renowned for his contributions to the study and understanding of classical Chinese texts. Serving as the magistrate of Xiao County in Anhui and master of rituals, Xushen was deeply influenced by the diverse interpretations emerging from commentaries on the Wujing, the five Confucian classics. His scholarly pursuits led him to create the Shuowen Jiezi, the first Chinese dictionary, around 100 CE, which included 15 volumes detailing 9,353 characters along with their meanings, pronunciations, and etymologies.
Xushen's dictionary was groundbreaking, introducing a systematic categorization of script structures into six types, most of which remain relevant today. The entries were organized under 540 radicals, establishing a framework that has influenced the compilation of subsequent Chinese dictionaries. Xushen's work is considered one of the earliest and most significant resources for researching classical Chinese, highlighting the importance of language and interpretation in Confucian scholarship. His legacy continues to impact the study of Chinese language and literature.
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Xushen
Related civilization: Early China
Major role/position: Confucian commentator, lexicographer
Life
Xushen (SHEW-shehn) was an unrivaled Confucian commentator of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 c.e.) and the first Chinese lexicographer in history. He was magistrate of Xiao county in Anhui and master of rituals under the supreme commander. During this period, commentaries were being written on the Wujing, the five Confucian classics. One of these classics, the Liji (compiled first century b.c.e.; The Liki, 1885; commonly known as Classic of Rituals), a miscellany of texts that treat ceremonies and rituals, directly concerned Xushen’s position. As diverse interpretations emerged, Xushen was motivated to study the classical Chinese characters.
In addition to his book Wujing Yiyi (first or second century c.e.; alternative interpretations of the five Confucian classics), Xushen published the first Chinese dictionary, Shuowen Jiezi (c. 100 c.e.). It consisted of fifteen volumes containing 9,353 characters and 1,163 variants. It presented the meaning, structure, pronunciation, and etymology of each character up to his time. This dictionary introduced six categories for script structures, all but the last two of which are still accurate: xiangxing (pictograms), zhishi (simple ideograms), huiyi (compound ideograms), singsheng (phonograms), jiajie (phonetic loans), and zhuanzhu (derivatives). The entries are arranged under 540 radicals, a system that has since become the standard practice in most Chinese dictionaries, although alternatives have been developed. Extant is the edited copy by Xuxuan (916-991c.e.) of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 c.e.).
Influence
Xushen’s dictionary is one of the earliest books of its kind and has been the most important work for research on classical Chinese.
Bibliography
Hook, Brian, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Watson, Burton. Early Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962.