Gānlù zìshū 干祿字書
A Character-Book for Pursuing Office by 顏元孫 (Yán Yuánsūn, 撰)
About the work
A one-juàn graph-orthography manual by Yán Yuánsūn 顏元孫 (fl. 714) of the famous Yánshì philological lineage — uncle of the calligrapher Yán Zhēnqīng 顏真卿. Each entry takes a graph and gives three forms — sú 俗 (vulgar), tōng 通 (interchangeable in informal writing), zhèng 正 (correct, for memorials, official documents, and kējǔ writing) — with a brief gloss. Sequenced internally by 206-rhyme classes after the four-tone scheme. The title gānlù — “to pursue official rank” — declares its function as a guide for examination candidates and officials. The text was transmitted on stele by Yán Zhēnqīng’s calligraphic copy of Dàlì 9 (774) and re-cut at Shǔ in Kāichéng 4 (839) by Yáng Hàngōng.
Tiyao
Gānlù zìshū in 1 juàn. Composed by Yán Yuánsūn of the Táng. Yuánsūn was the father of Yán Gāoqīng 顏杲卿 and the uncle of Yán Zhēnqīng 顏真卿; he held the office of Prefect of Chú 滁, Yí 沂, and Háo 濠 — three prefectures — and was posthumously awarded Mìshū jiàn. In Dàlì 9 (774) Zhēnqīng, while Prefect of Húzhōu 湖州, wrote out this book for stone-engraving; in Kāichéng 4 (839) Yáng Hàngōng 楊漢公 re-cut it on stone in Shǔ. Today the Hú stele is illegible; the Shǔ stele alone survives. In Sòng Bǎoyòu dīngsì (1257) Chén Lánsūn 陳蘭孫 of Héngyáng first re-cut the Hú stele in wood. — In our reigning dynasty Mǎ Yuēlù 馬曰璐 of Yángzhōu obtained a Sòng print and re-cut from it: the present is that book. But checking against the Shǔ stele, there are many errors. For example, the opening zìxù originally writes Yuánsūn; “the Late Bózǔ Mìshū jiàn” 故秘書監 means Yán Shīgǔ 顏師古. Chén Lánsūn, because Yuánsūn was also posthumously awarded Mìshū jiàn, mis-took the formula to mean Zhēnqīng was [self-]referring to Yuánsūn; he therefore changed all instances of Yuánsūn in the preface to Zhēnqīng — a critical lapse. Mǎ Yuēlù carried this corruption forward without checking. Other lacunae and errors run throughout. We have checked against the Shǔ stele and supplied 85 missing graphs, corrected 16 corrupt forms, and deleted two redundancies — the Yán-text is in some measure restored. — The book was made for memorials and dispatches and judging-tests (shūpàn 書判) — hence the title. The structure: by four tones for sequence, the 206 rhyme-classes for arrangement; under each lemma, sú, tōng, zhèng in three forms — quite detailed. — Some classifications are arguable: chóng 虫 / chóng 蟲, tú 啚 / tú 圖, dì 啇 / shāng 商, dòng 凍 / dòng 涷 are distinct graphs but here treated as upper-vulgar / lower-correct; conversely, mào 㒵 (an old form of 貌) is glossed as zhèng with mào 貌 as tōng; dī 氐 written 互, jiǔ 韭 written 韮, chú 芻 written □&KR4320; — these are pure sú but treated as tōngyòng. These are some lapses. — Yet the book weighs ancient and current usage and is genuinely workable; not like those who pretentiously claim to “restore antiquity” with non-seal non-clerical curiosities. Yuánsūn’s preface says: “Since the change from seal to clerical, original forms have gradually been lost; if we relied solely on the Shuōwén, every brushstroke would be encumbered. We must shed extremes and find balance.” This view is rooted in the Yánshì jiāxùn and is a genuinely catholic perspective, not partisan. Respectfully edited and presented in the twelfth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
The Gānlù zìshū is the foundational Táng manual of orthographic standardization for examination and official writing. Its three-form scheme (sú / tōng / zhèng) — vulgar, interchangeable, correct — became the basis of the entire later orthographic tradition (carried forward by Zhāng Shēn 張參’s Wǔjīng wénzì KR1j0024 and Táng Xuándù’s Jiǔjīng zìyàng KR1j0025). Yán Yuánsūn’s pragmatic philosophical position — drawn from his great-grandfather Yán Zhītuī’s Yánshì jiāxùn — is that the Shuōwén is the source of correct form but cannot be slavishly imposed on every-day writing; this catholic view is endorsed by both Xú Xuàn 徐鉉 (in his Memorial of Presentation on the DàXúběn Shuōwén) and Zhèng Qiáo 鄭樵. The transmission via Yán Zhēnqīng’s calligraphic copy and the Yáng Hàngōng Shǔ stele puts the book at the intersection of TángSòng zìshū lexicography and the orthographic standards of the kējǔ and gōngwén tradition. The dating bracket notBefore 700 to notAfter 720 covers Yán Yuánsūn’s working period (he is recorded fl. 714); the catalog gives him as fl. 714.
Translations and research
- Galambos, Imre. 2014. “Punctuation Marks in Medieval Chinese Manuscripts.” In Manuscript Cultures: Mapping the Field. Berlin: De Gruyter. — Sets the Gān-lù zì-shū in the broader manuscript-orthography context.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.1.