Xinhua Dictionary
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The Xinhua Zidian (Chinese:
It is the best-selling Chinese dictionary and the world's most popular reference work.[1] In 2016, Guinness World Records officially confirmed that the dictionary, published by The Commercial Press, is the "Most popular dictionary" and the "Best-selling book (regularly updated)". It is considered a symbol of Chinese culture.[2]
This pocket-sized dictionary of Chinese characters uses simplified Chinese characters and pinyin romanization. The most recent Xinhua Zidian edition (the 12th) contains 3,300 compounds and includes over 13,000 logograms, including traditional Chinese characters and variant Chinese characters. Bopomofo is used as a supplement alongside Pinyin. Xinhua Zidian is divided into 189 "radicals" or "section headers".[3] More recent editions have followed a GB13000.1 national standard in using a 201-radical system.
Besides their popular concise version Xinhua Zidian, Commercial Press also publishes a large-print edition and a Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation.[4][5] In addition, the Shanxi Education Press publishes a pinyin-edition Xinhua Zidian with both characters and orthographically precise transcriptions.[6]
History
[edit]Under the aegis of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the People's Education Press published the original Xinhua Zidian in 1953. The linguist and lexicographer Wei Jiangong (
When San Marino, a tiny country surrounded by Italy, was building a relationship with China in the 1970s, the Sammarinese gave a three-volume encyclopedia they had published, as a present to Chinese officials. However, due to the chaos caused by the Cultural Revolution in the area of publishing, China only could give a copy of the little Xinhua Zidian in return. As a result, the Chinese government decided to publish a series of new dictionaries in 1975, including Hanyu Da Cidian and some Chinese-foreign languages dictionaries.[7]
The dictionary was strongly affected by the political environment under Mao. In its 1971 edition, the dictionary contained 46 quotations of Chairman Mao, and slogans such as "Long live Chairman Mao!"[8]
Mobile app
[edit]The Commercial Press presented its official app on Apple Store in June 2017. It supports identifying hànzì characters by handwriting, voice, or camera. It also provides a pronunciation of the characters read by Li Ruiying, the former news presenter of Xinwen Lianbo.[9]
Lawsuits
[edit]The use of the term Xinhua Zidian has been disputed in China since the publishing of the dictionary is no longer arranged by the government. The Commercial Press insisted that the name is a specific term while other publishing houses believed that it is a generic term, as many of them published their own Chinese dictionary under the name.
In 2016, The Commercial Press (Beijing) filed a lawsuit at Beijing intellectual property court, claiming Sinolingua Co., Ltd. had violated The Commercial Press's trademark for Xinhua Zidian by publishing Xinhua Zidian without permission from The Commercial Press, even though the trademark name was not registered.[10] The original case started when 3.2 million copies of student edition of Xinhua Zidian (
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "400 million copies of Chinese-character dictionary". Peoples Daily. 13 February 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ "Guinness World Records Announces Xinhua Dictionary as the 'Most Popular Dictionary' and the 'Best-Selling book (regularly updated)'". Guinness World Records. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ DeFrancis, John (1984). The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 291. ISBN 0-585-31289-3. OCLC 45733542.
- ^ Clark, Paul. "Han-Ying shuangjie Xinhua Zidian (Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation) (review)." China Review International, 2001, 8.2, 387–388
- ^ Yao Naiqiang (姚乃
强 ), ed. Han-Ying shuangjie Xinhua Zidian (汉英双 解 新 华字典 ), Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation. Beijing: Commercial Press. 2000. ISBN 7-80103-198-9 - ^ Yi Ken'ichirō; Dong Jingru; Yamada Ruriko, eds. (1999).
新 华字典 汉语拼音版 [Pinyin edition of the Xinhua Zidian] (in Chinese) (1 ed.). Taiyuan: Shanxi jiao yu chu ban she. ISBN 7-5440-0941-6. OCLC 43519830. - ^ Wu Qixing (吴琦
幸 ) (28 June 2016). 编纂《汉语大 词典》的 那 些日子 、那 些人 (in Chinese).中 华读书报. - ^ Yu Wentao (14 October 2011). "Better read than Red". China Daily. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Yue Huairang (
岳 怀让) (11 June 2017).新 华字典 官 方 App今日 上 线,新 闻联播原播音员李 瑞 英 配 音 . m.thepaper.cn (in Chinese).澎湃 新 闻. - ^ Wen Chuan Ping (
文 川平 ) (2 November 2016). “新 华字典 ”不能 随意 被 “傍 名 ”. cnpubg.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 8 May 2019. - ^ Xinhua news (26 July 2013). "
傍 名 "出版 伤了谁 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 1 August 2013.
- Xinhua Zidian (
新 华字典 ), 10th revised edition. Beijing: Commercial Press. 2004. ISBN 7-100-03931-2, ISBN 7-100-02893-0 (large-print)
External links
[edit]- The Commercial Press (Beijing) page: Chinese