Súshū kānwù 俗書刋誤
Correcting the Errors of Vulgar Writing by 焦竑 (Jiāo Hóng, 撰)
About the work
A 12-juàn late-Míng orthographic compendium by Jiāo Hóng 焦竑 (1541–1620), zhuàngyuán of Wànlì yǐwèi (1595) and Hànlín xiūzhuàn. Juàn 1–4 sort orthographic corrections by four tones; juàn 5 — character meanings; juàn 6 — piánzì (binomial) corrections; juàn 7 — graph etymologies; juàn 8 — same-sound different-graph; juàn 9 — same-graph different-sound-and-meaning; juàn 10 — same-graph different-sense (multi-reading); juàn 11 — vulgar miscellanea; juàn 12 — confusable-graph essay. The discriminations are the most thoroughgoing of any Míng orthographic work and the work was widely consulted in the early Qing.
Tiyao
Súshū kānwù in 12 juàn; composed by Jiāo Hóng of the Míng. Hóng’s zì was Ruòhóu 弱侯; in Wànlì yǐwèi (1595) granted jìnshì zhuàngyuán (first place); held Hànlín xiūzhuàn. Juàn 1 to juàn 4: by four tones, correcting corrupted graphs (e.g. fēng 丰 is not fēng 丯; róng 容 is not from □); juàn 5: character meanings (e.g. chì 赤 tōng with chǐ 尺; yòu 鼬 same as yóu 猶); juàn 6: piánzì (e.g. gōulóu 句婁 should not be gǒulǒu 岣嶁; pīlì 辟厯 should not be 霹靂); juàn 7: graph beginnings (e.g. duì 對 had kǒu changed to shì 士 in the Hànwéndì period; dié 疊 had jīng 晶 changed to léi 畾 in Wáng Mǎng’s Xīn dynasty); juàn 8: same-sound different-graph (Páoxī 庖犧 = Páoxī 炮犧; Shénnóng 神農 = Shényóu 神由); juàn 9: same-graph different-meaning (kūnwú 錕鋙 vs kūnwú 琨珸; cāngláng 滄浪 vs cāngláng 篬筤); juàn 10: same-graph different-reading (duì 敦 has nine readings; zhàn 湛 has seven readings); juàn 11: vulgar miscellaneous graphs (mountain-fork = chà 岔; water-fork = chà 汊); juàn 12: easily-confused graphs (hé 禾 vs mù 木 with one stroke removed; zhī 支 vs pū 攴). Distinctions are the most detailed and not the kind of pedantic doctrinaire — superior to the rigid seal-script-purists by far. Respectfully edited and presented in the fifth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777).
Abstract
Jiāo Hóng’s Súshū kānwù is the most comprehensive and methodologically refined late-Míng orthographic dictionary, structured to address both visual confusion (juàn 12) and lexical confusion (multiple readings, multiple meanings, piánzì) within one consistent system. The Sìkù compilers explicitly note its superiority over the doctrinaire zhuànshū-imposing tradition (e.g., the late-Míng calligrapher-philologists). Jiāo Hóng was the most prominent Wàn-lì-era literatus-scholar, also author of the Guóshǐ jīngjízhì 國史經籍志 (a Míng bibliographic catalogue) and Bǐshèng 筆乘 (a bǐjì of philological notes); he is one of the few Míng figures whose multiple works are well represented in the Sìkù. Dating bracket notBefore 1595 (his zhuàngyuán year) to notAfter 1620 (his death).
Translations and research
- de Bary, Wm. Theodore. 1970. “Individualism and Humanitarianism in Late Ming Thought.” In Self and Society in Ming Thought. New York: Columbia. — Treats Jiāo Hóng’s intellectual world.
- Wáng Yì-fán 王翼凡. 2003. Jiāo Hóng yǔ Wàn-lì xué-shù 焦竑與萬曆學術. Beijing: Beijing daxue. — Modern monograph.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.1, §6.2.1.