Xinhua Dictionary

Chinese language dictionary

This is the dictionary published by the Commercial Press. Not to be confused with the no-relation Xinhua News Agency.

10th (2004) edition of Xinhua Zidian

The Xinhua Zidian (Chinese: 新华字典; pinyin: Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn), also as Xinhua Dictionary, is a Chinese-language dictionary published by the Commercial Press. The first edition of Xinhua Zidian was published in 1957. The latest version is the 12th edition, which was published in August 2020.

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 (魏建功, 1901–1980) was chief editor. In 1957, the Commercial Press published the Xinhua Zidian (1st edition), which was alphabetically collated in pinyin order. They have subsequently revised this dictionary ten times, with over 200 printing runs, and it is a longtime bestseller among students in China. In early 2004, the total number of published copies exceeded 400 million.[1]

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 (学生新华字典) published by a company in Hubei were recalled for poor quality.[11]

## See also[edit]

* List of best-selling books

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "400 million copies of Chinese-character dictionary". Peoples Daily. 13 February 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
2. ^ "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.
3. ^ DeFrancis, John (1984). The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 291\. ISBN 0-585-31289-3. OCLC 45733542.
4. ^ Clark, Paul. "Han-Ying shuangjie Xinhua Zidian (Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation) (review)." China Review International, 2001, 8.2, 387–388
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ Yu Wentao (14 October 2011). "Better read than Red". China Daily. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ 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

* v
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Dictionaries for scripts using Chinese characters

Monolingual|

| Characters
(字; zì)|

* Shizhoupian 史籀篇 (first millennium BCE)
* Erya 爾雅 (c. 3rd century BC)
* Cangjiepian 倉頡篇 (c. 220 BC)
* Jijiupian 急就篇 (c. 40 BC)
* Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 (2nd century)
* Shiming 釋名 (c. 200)
* Guangya 廣雅 (c. 230)
* Xiao Erya 小爾雅 (3rd century)
* Zilin 字林 (c. 350)
* Ziyuan 字苑 (c. 4th century)
* Yupian 玉篇 (c. 543)
* Ganlu Zishu 干祿字書 (c. 7th century)
* Leipian 類篇 (1066)
* Piya 埤雅 (c. 11th century)
* Zitong 字通 (1254)
* Zihui 字彙 (1615)
* Zhengzitong 正字通 (1627)
* Kangxi Dictionary 康熙字典 (1716)
* Shuowen Jiezi Zhu 說文解字注 (1815)
* Zhonghua Da Zidian 中華大字典 (1915)
* Xinhua Dictionary 新华字典 (1957)
* Hanyu Da Zidian 漢語大字典 (1989)
* Zhonghua Zihai 中华字海 (1994)

|

Words
(詞／词; cí)|

* Ciyuan 辭源 (1915)
* Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary 教育部國語辭典 (1926)
* Cihai 辭海 (1938)
* Zhongwen Da Cidian 中文大辭典 (1968)
* Xiandai Hanyu Cidian 现代汉语词典 (1978)
* Hanyu Da Cidian 漢語大詞典 (1994)
* Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian 现代汉语规范词典 (2004)

Rime|

* Shenglei 聲類 (c. 230)
* Qieyun 切韻 (601)
* Kanmiu Buque Qieyun 刊謬補缺切韻 (706)
* Tangyun 唐韻 (732)
* Yunhai jingyuan 韻海鏡源 (780)
* Guangyun 廣韻 (1008)
* Jiyun 集韻 (1037)
* Yunjing 韻鏡 (1161)
* Qiyin lüe 七音略 (before 1161)
* Pingshui Yun 平水韻 (c. 12th century)
* Menggu Ziyun 蒙古字韻 (14th century)
* Zhongyuan Yinyun 中原音韻 (1324)
* Qi Lin Bayin 戚林八音 (17th century)
* Peiwen Yunfu 佩文韻府 (1711)

Varieties|

* Fangyan 方言 (c. 1st century)
* Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects 現代漢語方言大詞典 (2002)

Exegetical|

* Jingdian Shiwen 經典釋文 (c. 583)
* Yiqiejing Yinyi (Xuanying) 一切經音義 (玄英) (c. 649)
* Yiqiejing Yinyi (Huilin) 一切經音義 (慧琳) (c. 807)
* Longkan Shoujian 龍龕手鑒 (997)

Biographical|

* Zhongguo Renming Dacidian 中國人名大辭典 (1921)

Bilingual|

| Chinese–English|

* A Dictionary of the Chinese Language (1823)
* Medhurst's Chinese and English Dictionary (1842)
* A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language (1874)
* A Chinese–English Dictionary (1892)
* The Five Thousand Dictionary (1926)
* Mathews' Chinese–English Dictionary (1931)
* Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese (1947)
* Grammata Serica Recensa (1957)
* Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage (1972)
* ABC Chinese–English Dictionary (1996)

| Online|

* CEDICT (1997)

|

In other languages|

* Pearl in the Palm (Tangut; 12th century)
* Pentaglot Dictionary (Manchu; 1794)
* Dai Kan-Wa Jiten (Japanese; 1960)
* Le Grand Ricci (French; 2001)
* Han-Han Dae Sajeon (Korean)

List of Chinese dictionaries
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