Zìluán 字㝈
Twin Characters by 葉秉敬 (Yè Bǐngjìng, 撰)
About the work
A two-juàn dictionary of graphically similar but semantically distinct character-pairs, a late-Míng descendent of Guō Zhōngshù’s 郭忠恕 Pèiguī KR1j0027 tradition. Compiled by Yè Bǐngjìng 葉秉敬 (zì Jìngjūn 敬君, of Xīān 西安 in Qúzhōu 衢州), Wànlì xīnchǒu (1601) jìnshì. The book’s signature feature: each entry is followed by a four-syllable mnemonic verse for memorization. The title zìluán alludes to the Shuōwén graph 㝈 (“twins”; yǎn 龹 covering two children). Printed by Pān Zhīcóng 潘之淙 of Hangzhou.
Tiyao
Zìluán in 2 juàn; composed by Yè Bǐngjìng of the Míng. Bǐngjìng’s zì was Jìngjūn 敬君; a man of Xīān 西安 in Qúzhōu 衢州. In Wànlì xīnchǒu (1601) he obtained jìnshì. From a bùláng he was sent out as Prefect of Kāifēngfǔ; promoted Hénán tíxué qiānshì; reassigned Jīngxīdào cānyì; soon transferred to NánRuì, but died before he set out. Bǐngjìng’s learning was broad; he authored more than forty works. — This book takes graphs of similar form but distinct meaning and arranges them in classes with annotation, broadly the same in approach as Guō Zhōngshù’s Pèiguī; only that each graph here is closed with a four-syllable mnemonic verse — a structural innovation unique to Yè Bǐngjìng. The fánlì says: “luánzǐ (twins) — eyebrow, eye, hair, skin, no difference; but elder-younger, before-after, no confusion. One must observe the subtle correspondence by which child generates from mother.” Hence each gloss is grounded in Shuōwén; the háolí discriminations of piānpáng and stroke-pattern are clear; further the yùnyǔ mnemonics aid memorization — a useful primer to xiǎoxué. — The book was carved by Pān Zhīcóng of Hangzhou. The old print includes a Zhuàntǐ biànjué (a seven-syllable verse on differentiating seal-script piānpáng) — by an unknown earlier hand and long-current. Pān Zhīcóng appended it because the two complement each other on the liùshū. — But its closing 124 verse-lines, expanded from the older version, are erroneous and arbitrary: e.g., yòu 柚 should not be from yóu 由; yān 咽 should not be from yīn 因 — directly contradicting the Shuōwén. Worse, made-up seal-forms: sè 瑟 with an upper added stroke, internal gàn 干; yǒng 勇 originally from yǒng 甬 but explained as “horn-strength is yǒng”; jì 㮨 with the ancient jì 畟 abridged but explained as “same as huái 槐 liǔ 柳” — these are extreme errors, evidently later interpolations. We here delete them. Respectfully edited and presented in the twelfth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
Yè Bǐngjìng’s Zìluán is a late-Míng descendent of the Pèiguī tradition of confusable-graph differentiation, distinctive for its mnemonic-verse format. The Sìkù compilers credit the work as a useful xiǎoxué primer but note that the appended Zhuàntǐ biànjué (added by the printer Pān Zhīcóng) contains 124 lines of late corruption that they have removed. Yè Bǐngjìng was a substantial late-Míng polymath (40+ works), of whom this is one of the few preserved in the imperial canon. Dating bracket notBefore 1601 (his jìnshì year) to notAfter 1630 (a generous estimate of his late career; precise death-date unknown).
Translations and research
- Liú Yèqiū 劉葉秋. 1983. Zhōngguó zì-diǎn shǐ-lüè. Beijing: Zhonghua.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.1.