Ganlu Zishu

Ganlu Zishu in the Chinese Dictionary Museum, Jincheng, Shanxi

Ganlu Zishu (Chinese: 干祿字書 "Character Book for Seeking an Official Emolument") is a Chinese orthography dictionary of the Tang Dynasty. The first surviving orthographical dictionary for the regular script, it was authored by Yan Yuansun (顏元孫), a descendant of the famous scholar Yan Shigu. 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, thus the title "Ganlu", an allusion to the Analects (2:18).

The work comprises about 800 characters (excluding variants). The characters are collated by tone and rime (approximately those used in Qieyun). 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, nephew of Yan Yuansun. The stone has worn out, though.

See also

• Zitong dictionary, a Song dynasty orthography dictionary

References

• Zhongguo da baike quanshu. First Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe. 1980-1993.

Dictionaries of Chinese
Monolingual dictionaries	Character dictionaries (字典 Zìdiǎn) Shizhoupian Cangjiepian Jijiupian Fangyan Shuowen Jiezi Shiming Zilin Ganlu Zishu Longkan Shoujian Zitong Leipian Kangxi Dictionary Zhonghua Da Zidian Xinhua Zidian Hanyu Da Zidian Zhonghua Zihai Word dictionaries (詞典 Cídiǎn) Erya Xiao Erya Guangya Ziyuan Yupian Jingdian Shiwen Yiqiejing Yinyi (Xuanying) Yiqiejing Yinyi (Huilin) Piya Zihui Zhengzitong Ciyuan Zhongguo Renming Dacidian Cihai Zhongwen Da Cidian Xiandai Hanyu Cidian Hanyu Da Cidian Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects Rime dictionaries (韻書 Yùnshū) Shenglei Qieyun Tangyun Yunhai jingyuan Guangyun Jiyun Yunjing Qiyin lüe Menggu Ziyun Zhongyuan Yinyun Qi Lin Bayin Peiwen Yunfu
Bilingual dictionaries	Character dictionaries (字典 Zìdiǎn) Grammata Serica Recensa The Five Thousand Dictionary Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese Word dictionaries (詞典 Cídiǎn) Pearl in the Palm (Tangut) Pentaglot Dictionary (Manchu) A Dictionary of the Chinese Language Chinese and English Dictionary A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language A Chinese-English Dictionary Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary Dai Kan-Wa Jiten (Japanese) ABC Chinese-English Dictionary Han-Han Dae Sajeon (Korean) CEDICT Adsotrans Thesaurus Linguae Sericae
List of Chinese dictionaries