Ganlu Zishu
Encyclopedia
Ganlu Zishu is a Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

 dictionary of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

. The first surviving orthographical dictionary for the regular script
Regular script
Regular script , also called 正楷 , 真書 , 楷体 and 正書 , is the newest of the Chinese script styles Regular script , also called 正楷 , 真書 (zhēnshū), 楷体 (kǎitǐ) and 正書 (zhèngshū), is the newest of the Chinese script styles Regular script , also called 正楷 , 真書 (zhēnshū), 楷体 (kǎitǐ) and 正書 (zhèngshū), is...

, it was authored by Yan Yuansun (顏元孫), a descendant of the famous scholar Yan Shigu
Yan Shigu
Yan Shigu , formal name Yan Zhou , but went by the courtesy name of Shigu, was a famous Chinese author and linguist of the Tang Dynasty.-Biography:Yan was born in Wannian , his ancestry was originally from Langya...

. It is roughly based on Yan Shigu's work Ziyang (字樣 "Character Samples"), now surviving only in fragments. It was meant to be an official guide for the use of those who took the Imperial examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...

, thus the title "Ganlu", an allusion to the Analects (2:18).

The work comprises about 800 character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

s (excluding variants). The characters are collated by tone
Tone name
In the Chinese and Vietnamese languages, tone names are the names given to the tones these languages use.*In Chinese, tone names are given in terms of the four tones, namely level , rising , departing , and entering , as well as dark and light , and high and low .* Standard Vietnamese has six...

 and rime
Syllable rime
In the study of phonology in linguistics, the rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a nucleus and an optional coda. It is the part of the syllable used in poetic rhyme, and the part that is lengthened or stressed when a person elongates or stresses a word in speech.The rime is usually the...

 (approximately those used in Qieyun
Qieyun
The Qieyun is a Chinese rime dictionary, published in 601 CE during the Sui Dynasty. The title Qieyun literally means "cutting rimes" referring to the traditional Chinese fănqiè system of spelling, and is thus translatable as "Spelling Rimes."Lù Făyán was the chief editor...

). The variants of a character are divided into three types: the "standard" (正 zheng), the "acceptable" (通 tong) and the "vulgar" (俗 su). Not every character has all the three types of variant. The examinees were supposed to use the "standard" form of a character.

The text was carved on stone with the calligraphy of Yan Zhenqing
Yan Zhenqing
Yan Zhenqing was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang Dynasty. His artistic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy parallels the greatest master calligraphers throughout the history, and his regular script style, Yan, is often imitated.-Early life:Yan Zhenqing was born...

, nephew of Yan Yuansun. The stone has worn out, though.
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