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The ''Zilin'' was popular in the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] period (420–589), when "lexicography in China entered the stage of exploration and development. There were more new dictionary types coming into being and discoveries were waiting to be made in format and style, in mode of definition, and in phonetic notation." (Yong and Peng 2008: 275).
During the [[Liu Song dynasty]] (420-479), Wu Gongceng (吳恭曾) from [[Yang Province]] compiled the first commentary to the ''Zilin'', the ''Zilin yinyi'' (字林音義; "Pronunciations and Meanings in the ''Zilin''") in 5 volumes.
Jiang Shi (江式) was a renowned [[Chinese calligraphy|calligrapher]] and [[epigraphist]] during the [[Northern Wei]] (386–535) dynasty. His biography in the ''[[Book of Wei]]'' (554) history included the ''Lunshu biao'' (論書表; "Memorial on Calligraphy"; 514), in which Jiang Shi described the ''Zilin''. When [[Shi Jian|Prince of Yiyang]] (r. 349-350) was enfeoffed at Rencheng (任城) [[Commandery (China)|commandery]] (present-day [[Yanzhou District]]), Lü Chen presented the ''Zilin'' in 6 volumes.
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''Zhòuwén'' (籀文; "[[Large Seal Script]]") and ''xiǎozhuàn'' (小篆; "[[Small Seal Script]]") were archaic forms of [[Chinese calligraphy]]. Thus, the ''Zilin'' followed the ''Shuowen jiezi'' format of giving the head character entry in Small Seal Script and the definition in [[clerical script]].
The [[Northern Qi]] dynasty (550-577) scholar [[Yan Zhitui]]'s (581) ''Yanshi jiaxun'' (顏氏家訓; "Family Instructions of the Yan Clan") referred to the usefulness of consulting the ''Zilin''. After accompanying the Emperor on a tour, Yan Zhitui wanted to look up the origins and archaic pronunciations of two obscure [[place names]], but could not find the answers in any books, until he checked the ''Zilin'' and ''Yunji'' character dictionaries (Yong and Peng 2008: 186). Yan Zhitui also referred to Lü Chen (without the ''Zilin'' title) in stressing the importance of character dictionaries (tr. Yong and Peng 2008: 186-187). "Words and characters are fundamental. For students nowadays, they rarely have a better knowledge of characters: when they read the Five Classics" they follow the civil official [[Xu Miao]] rather than the lexicographer [[Xu Shen]], "and when they practice writing ''fu''-poems," they believed in the ''[[Chuci]]'' poet [[Qu Yuan]]'s interpretations but neglected Lü Chen's.
The ''[[Book of Sui]]'' (636), the official [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618) history, "Biography of Pan Hui" (潘徽) criticized the ''[[Cangjiepian]]'' and ''[[Jijiupian]]'' character primers and ''Shuowen jiezi'' and ''Zilin'' character dictionaries and praised the ''Shenglei'' and ''Yunji'' [[rime dictionaries]].
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The last remaining copies of the ''Zilin'' were lost before the [[Song dynasty]] (960-1279). The ''[[Book of Song]]'' (1493) only mentions this dictionary once. A discussion of different vehicle types (18, 禮五) quotes the ''Zilin'' that a ''píngchē'' (軿車; "curtained carriage") had cloth curtains but no rear ''yuán'' (轅; "(cart/carriage) shaft"), while a ''zīchē'' (輜車; "ancient covered wagon") had a rear shaft.
During the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644-1911), scholars collected surviving fragments of the ''Zilin'' and quotations in other books. For example, the ''[[Kangxi Dictionary]]'' (1716) quotes its definitions and pronunciations over 180 times. Ren Dazhuang (任大樁
==References==
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*Yip, Po-ching (2000), ''The Chinese Lexicon: A Comprehensive Survey'', Psychology Press.
*Yong, Heming and Jing Peng (2008), ''Chinese Lexicography: A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911'', Oxford University Press.
*[[Zhou Youguang]] (2003), ''The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts'', tr. by Zhang Liqing (張立青) National East Asian Languages Resource Center, Ohio State University.
==External links==
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