Jijiupian
Jijiupian | ||
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Hanyu Pinyin Jíjiùpiān | | |
Wade–Giles | Chi-chiu-p'ien | |
Yue: Cantonese | ||
Jyutping | Gap1zau6pin1 | |
Southern Min | ||
Hokkien POJ | Kipchiūphiⁿ | |
Middle Chinese | ||
Middle Chinese | Kipdzjuwphjien | |
Old Chinese | ||
Baxter–Sagart (2014) | [K](r)əp[dz]u[k]-spʰen |
Transcriptions | |
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McCune–Reischauer | Kŭpch'wip'yŏn |
Transcriptions | |
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Revised Hepburn | Kyūjūhen |
The Jijiupian is a
Title
The Jíjiùpiān "Quickly Master [Character] Chapters" is also called the Jíjiùzhāng 急就章 "Quickly Master [Character] Sections" and simply Jíjiù 急就.
The title Jíjiùpiān uses the word piān 篇, which is attested in Han dynasty texts with the meaning of "book, written document" (such as in the Hanshu 漢書 chapter on Wu Di, "著之於篇,朕親覽焉。"[1]). Several other Chinese dictionary titles use pian, for example, the (c. 500? BCE) Shizhoupian "Historian Zhou's Chapters" (c. 220 BCE) Cangjiepian "Cangjie's Chapters" (c. 543) Yupian "Jade Chapters", and (1066) Leipian "Categorized Chapters".
Jíjiù has several possible interpretations, depending on the meanings of jí 急 "urgent; hurrying; rapid; fast; hasty; distress" and jiù 就 "proceed; advance; accomplish; achieve; accomplish; finish". The Science and Civilisation in China collaborators Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen, and Huang Hsing-Tsung say, "One hardly knows how to render its title, unless 'Handy Primer'."[2] Thomas Lee translates jijiu as "quickly getting to".[3] The Chinese lexicographers Heming Yong and Jing Peng say that jijiu 急就 "instant success" suggested "fast learning", as seen in the first words of the Jijiupian preface.[4]
Quickly learn the rarely seen drinking vessels and many different things: listing the names of objects, people, and family names; classify them into different sections so that they will not be easily mixed up. Occasional consultation will definitely be a great delight—for it is quick to retrieve, and, if hard effort is put into it, there will surely be surprising rewards. Please follow the guidelines in each chapter.
This passage is notably the earliest recorded discussion of how to classify characters into different textual sections.[5]
While the title is usually transliterated Jijiupian, Chi-chiu-p'ien, etc., some English translations are:
- Handy Primer[6]
- Quick Access [to Characters][7]
- Quick mastery of the characters[8]
- The Instant Primer[9]
- Primer for Quickly Learning Chinese Characters[10]
- For Urgent Use[11][page needed]
- Wood-Prism Bundles for Rapid Attainment[12]
History
The first reference to the Jijiupian and Shi You 史游 is found in the
In the
From the Han to the
The Jijiupian was one of several similar wordbooks that circulated widely during the Qin and Han periods, but it alone survived to the present day, owing to several factors. One reason for its preservation was a model version written by the famous Jin dynasty Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303–361), which was copied by generation after generation of literati eager to perfect their calligraphy.[16] The Yuan dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322) also produced an orthographic model Jijiupian. Another factor was the textual explanations written by famous authors in later dynasties. The Tang scholar Yan Shigu wrote a (620) commentary, and the Song scholar Wang Yinglin 王應麟 wrote the (1280) Xingshi Jijiupian 姓氏急就篇.[16]
Modern archeological excavations have found fragments of the Jijiupian, and even some tablets on which the inscriptions were evidently exercises in copying characters.[17][18]
Text
The original Jijiupian consisted of 32 sections (zhang 章), each with 63 Chinese characters, totaling 2,016. Some later editions of the text add two more sections, each with 64 characters, thus totaling 2,144. The text was designed to include as many different characters as possible, with little repetition, in order to maximize the student's exposure to and learning of new words. The text is described as a sort of abecedarium.[19][20]
The Jijiupian
China's first "word books" were written to meet the needs of literacy education.[21] Shi You's Jijiupian was intended to be used for learning the meanings of basic characters and how they should properly be written. It formed a basis for verbal elaborations by teachers, and could have served as a handy reference manual for scribes and copyists.[16] The original Han edition Jijiupian was written in clerical script, but it was later used for learning to write in other calligraphic styles of characters, such as regular script and cursive script.
The Jijiupian has historical linguistic value as a record of common words that were current during the Han dynasty. It preserved many technical terms and names of plants, animals, tools, and objects, which are important for the histories of science, medicine, and technology. For instance, the Jijiupian was the first text to describe the trip hammer and waterwheel.
To illustrate the types of lists that the Jijiupian contains, and their value for those who wished to write correctly, consider the Section 24 list of traditional Chinese herbal medicines, written in rhymed 7-character lines.[22]
灸刺和药逐去邪 By moxa, acupuncture and the compounding of drugs we may drive out the malign (
Glycyrrhiza glabra, wǎn 菀 Aster tataricus, and lílú 藜蘆 Veratrum niqrum. Wūhuì 烏喙 and fùzǐ 附子 both Aconitum carmichaelii, jiāo 椒 , Zanthoxylum piperitum, and yánhuá 芫花 Daphne genkwa. Bànxià 半夏 Pinellia ternata, zàojiá 皂莢 Gleditsia sinensis, ài 艾 Artemisia argyi, and tuówú 橐吾 Ligularia sibirica.
The rhyme-words (Old Chinese reconstructions from Baxter-Sagart 2014) are: *sə.ɢa 邪, *ɡˁa 胡, *rˁa 蘆, *qʷʰˁra 花, and *ŋˁa 吾. With the exception of the mineral arsenolite (arsenic oxide), most of these names are written with the "plant radical" 艸 or 艹, which is commonly used in characters for plants and trees.
The text "impresses readers with its balanced content and ingenuity",[3] and some examples are:
To buy on credit, to borrow, to sell and to buy, these activities give convenience to merchants and markets….To cut, to mince, to broil and to cook a whole piece of meat, each has its own shape….Rooms, houses, and inns are [for people] to rest and there are also towers, palaces, and halls….Various ranked lords have their fiefs, lands, and household vassals; these [privileges] come from hard studies, but not from [the help of] ghosts or spirits.[23]
The Jijiupian teaches students basic vocabulary for daily life, with occasional moral lessons.
References
- Lee, Thomas H. C. (2000). Education in Traditional China: A History. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 4 China, Volume: 13. ISBN 9789004103634.
- Needham, Joseph; Lu, Gwei-djen; Huang, Hsing-Tsung (1986). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1: Botany. Cambridge University Press.
- Yong, Heming; Peng, Jing (2008). Chinese Lexicography: A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911. Oxford University Press.
Footnotes
- ^ "CText for Hanshu".
- ^ Needham, Lu & Huang 1986, p. 194.
- ^ a b Lee 2000, p. 437.
- ^ a b c Yong & Peng 2008, p. 57.
- ^ a b Yong & Peng 2008, p. 144.
- ^ Needham, Lu & Huang 1986, p. 562.
- ^ Theobald, Ulrich (2010), Jijiupian 急就篇 "Quick Access [to Characters]", Chinaknowledge
- ^ ISBN 9780674002494.
- ^ Yong & Peng 2008, p. 25.
- ^ Cai, Zong-qi (2013), How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology, Columbia University Press. p. 85.
- ISBN 9781900650922.
- ^ Barbieri-Low, Anthony J. and Robin D.S. Yates (2015), Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China (2 vols): A Study with Critical Edition and Translation of the Legal Texts from Zhangjiashan Tomb, E.J. Brill. p. 1102.
- ^ Tr. Needham, Lu & Huang 1986, p. 194.
- ^ Creamer, Thomas B. I. (1992), "Lexicography and the history of the Chinese language", in History, Languages, and Lexicographers (Lexicographica, Series maior 41), ed. by Ladislav Zgusta, Niemeyer, p. 112 (105-135).
- ^ Tr. Yong & Peng 2008, p. 25.
- ^ a b c d Needham, Lu & Huang 1986, p. 195.
- ^ Loewe, M. (1967), Records of Han Administration, 2 vols., Cambridge University Press. Vol. 2 p. 418.
- ^ Needham, Lu & Huang 1986, p. 197.
- ^ Goodrich, Chauncey S. (1975), "The Ancient Chinese Prisoner's Van", T'oung Pao 61.5: 215-231. p. 220.
- ^ Yates, Robin S. (2011), "Soldiers, Scribe, and Women: Literacy among the Lower Orders in Early China", in Writing & Literacy in Early China, ed. by Li Feng and David Prager Branner, University of Washington Press, p. 358 (340-369).
- ISBN 9780199585847.
- ^ Tr. Needham, Lu & Huang 1986, p. 195.
- ^ Tr. .Lee 2000, p. 438.
Further reading
- Serruys, Paul L-M. (1962), "Chinese Dialectology Based on Written Documents", Monumenta Serica 21: 320–344.
External links
- 急就篇·卷一, 四庫全書 edition Jijiupian, Archive.org
- 急就篇 - Ji Jiu Pian, searchable Jijiupian, Ctext