L2/14-242

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4634
Date: 2014-09-30

Title: Proposal to encode Small Seal Script in UCS
Source: TCA and China
Action: For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2This document proposes to encode 10,516 Small Seal Script characters in UCS.
Note: This document shows 799 of 10,516 characters, with TrueType fonts. The fontsof remaining ones will be provided later. The 799 characters in this document are
selected from Volume 1 of the 14 volumes Tenghuaxie version Shuowen Jiezi (14 卷
藤花榭本說文解字).

1. Small Seal Script and the Book Shuowen Jiezi
The Small Seal script (小篆) is a kind of ancient Chinese script, predecessor ofmodern Chinese (漢字, Hanzi). The book Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), edited by Xu
Shen (許慎, 58 AD to 147 AD), collects the Small Seal characters of Qin Dynasty (秦,220 BC to 206 BC) of China. The collection contains 9,353 canonical Small Seal
characters, 1163 variants (called “Chongwen” in Shuowen Jiezi). Chongwen contains
Zhouwen (籀文, Small Seal script in Zhou Dynasty, 周 1046 BC to 256 BC) and
Guwen (古文, the scripts used in the other six nations excluding Qin in the Warring
States period, 475 BC to 221 BC) which are incompatible with Small Seal characters.
There were two types of publicly accepted scripts prevailing in Qin Dynasty,
canonical Small Seal script and clerical script which was used by the public (known
as Qin Li in philology, also named Gu Li to distinguish from subsequent Han Li).
Some people think Small Seal script is a calligraphy typeface, which is amisunderstanding. The Small Seal script in book Shuowen Jiezi is considered acharacter set of a historical stage in the development of ancient characters, like Oracle
Bone script, Bronze inscriptions and Warring States scripts, it does not belong to thesame system as the modern Hanzi does. In addition, a large number of Small Seal
script characters cannot be mapped to modern standard Hanzi characters in form ofshapes one by one; although some shapes can be mapped, the Small Seal ones haveunique structures different to their counterparts in modern Hanzi. So, the Small Seal
script shall not be regarded as a typeface of modern Hanzi pertaining to standard
Hanzi script, thus it should be encoded independently in UCS.
The Small Seal script in book Shuowen Jiezi plays an important role in thedevelopment of Hanzi, and gives a distinctive value to the study and collating ofancient characters:
A. The Small Seal script of Qin Dynasty is the final stage of the development ofancient Hanzi characters, covering a complete structure model of pre-Qin ancientP1

characters since Oracle bone inscriptions, and relates to the main components of theancient characters, and had become a required reference character set for doing
textual research on and collating ancient Hanzi characters.
B. The Small Seal script characters in book Shuowen Jiezi are closely related to Zhou
classic literatures of Zhou Dynasty, and the configuration of the characters can be
explained by the meanings of the classic literatures; not only does it show the featureof the ideographic Chinese characters, but it also provides the method ofcomposing modern characters since the period of official scripts. Chinese characters
are interpreted in accordance with the book Shuowen Jiezi in current teaching.
C. Having strictly collated and removed unnecessary glyphs, the Small Seal script inbook Shuowen Jiezi buids a complete system of configuration. The characters are
distributed in sequence according to their sub classes, under 540 main classes ofradicals. Currently, ancient Hanzi characters are collated on the basis of the radical
and character order of book Shuowen Jiezi.
D. The 540 radicals summarized in the book Shuowen Jiezi cover all forms andmeanings of Chinese characters, are called structural radicals with theoretical values.
The 214 radicals of Kanxi Zidian (康熙字典, Kangxi Dictionary) of Qing Dynasty(清 1644 to 1911) were created on the basis of simplifying and combining those 540
radicals. Such combination ignores the distinguishing feature of the united form andmeaning of ideographic characters, they are merely suitable for a checking purpose,and are theoretically inadequate, the 540-radical is a more complete radical system.

2. Selection of Original Materials
The book Shuowen Jiezi was completed in Eastern Han Dynasty (東漢 25 to 220).
After a long period of circulation, some of the original contents were changed. In
Song Dynasty (宋 960 to 1279), Xu Xuan (徐鉉) was ordered by the Emperor to
make a complete collation of the publication. He restored the contents and got its
original glyphs. This book is known as “Daxu Ben (大徐本, the version of Big Xu)”
while the book collated by his younger brother Xu Kai (徐鍇) is known as “Xiaoxu
Ben (小徐本, the version of Little Xu)”. The “Daxu Ben” Shuowen Jiezi is recognized
as a specification version. It was followed as major and principal reference whencharacter glyphs were selected and ordered for this proposal.
There are 3 most popular versions of Daxu Ben Shuowen Jiezi: Tenghuaxie version(額勒布藤花榭本), Pingjinguan version (孫星衍平津館本) and Chen Changzhi
version (陳昌治單行本, revised in accordance with Pingjinguan version). Both
Tenghuaxie version and Pingjinguan version were made following original Song
Dynasty printed books, while Pingjinguan version was revised. To retain the originalcontents as much as possible, Tenghuaxie version was selected first when the
proposal was drafted.
Duan Yucai (段玉裁), a leading expert in Shuowen Jiezi research in Qing Dynasty,
collated Daxu Ben and Xiaoxu Ben, corrected some glyphs according to the examplesof Shuowen Jiezi itself and adjusted partial ordering of characters. His work is
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reflected in the book Shuowen Jiezi Zhu （Annotations for the book Shuowen Jiezi,
abbreviated as Duan Zhu）, and is an important basis for people now to learn Shuowen
Jiezi. The different information between Daxu Ben and Duan Zhu was preserved
based on Daxu Ben when the proposal was drafted.

3. Rules and Principles
3.1．Ordering(1) Characters are ordered based on the radical sequence and the arrangement order ofthe characters within the radical of Tenghuaxie version.
(2) Characters from Duan Zhu or Chen Changzhi version are ordered as as follows:a. Additional variant characters of each version are placed in order, placed behindthe corresponding canonical Small Seal script (正篆) and the original
Chongwen (重文):Volume 1.

Volume 1.

Volume 1.

b. Newly added Small Seal Script characters by Xu Xuan (徐鉉) are placed at theend of other Small Seal characters with the same radicals.
c. Components or component variants need to be supplemented.
① If the component does not correspond to a Small Seal script, place itbehind the newly added Small Seal Scripts.

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Example: Volume 7，04671. “免” is not included in Tenghuaxie version. So

it is necessary to give a form

behind “兔” in volume 10.

1② If the component has a corresponding Small Seal shape, it is a variant andshould be placed behind the corresponding Small Seal shape.

Example: Volume 3，02272. An explanation of “昏” was given in volume 7 of

Shuowen Jiezi, meaning “voice of the people2”。Add a variant

01581

of volume 3。In Tenghuaxie version, “世” is written as(this is more common), so add a variant

2

to “昏”

to “世”.

Duanzhu: not follow the voice of people. All components of “昬”are changed to “昏”.
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3.2. Character Selection（1）All canonical Small Seal characters (正篆), variants characters (重文) and newly
added Small Seal characterss of Tenghuaxie version are to be included.
（2）Characters that have different structures in Duan Zhu and Chen Changzhi
version are to be supplemented. (Such as “蘫”.)（3）All components and their variants that are not included in the above two versions
are to be supplemented. (Such as the aforementioned“免”and“世”)
3.3. The character shapes
Characters from Tenghuaxie version shall have shapes consistent with their originalforms in Tenghuaxie version. Added characters and component variants shall haveshapes consistent with their original forms. No purposed adjustment or
re-construction.
4.4. Principles for transferring Old Hanzi to modern Hanzi(1) Use descriptive glyph as the first corresponding glyph.
a. Follow the original component position, for example:—；

b. Follow the original conversion of line to stroke, for example:——

c. Follow the original form of Li glyph, for example:(2) If there is a corresponding natural script-evolution standard script, it should be
used as a secondary corresponding glyph。For example:

—

—

；

—

—

Guwen；——

Zhouwen

This proposal is drafted by:李鍌(Li Xian)、蔡信發(Tsai Xin Fa)、季旭昇(Chi hsiu Sheng)、許學仁(Hsu XueJen)、宋建華(Sung Chien Hua)、袁國華(Yuen Kwok Wa)、魏林梅(Wei Lin Mei)、
蔡仁瑛(Tsai Jen Ying)、莊素琴（Huang Suh Chyin）
王寧 (Wang Ning)、王立軍(Wang Lijun) 、王曉明(Wang Xiaoming) 、胡佳佳(HuJiajia) 、卜師霞(Bu Shixia) 、凌麗君(Ling Lijun) 、孟琢(Meng Zhuo) 、董婧辰
(Dong Jingchen)P5

5. 799 of 10,516 Small Seal Script characters

第一卷(Volume 1)

一丁丂七丄丅丆万丈三上下丌不与丏丐丑丒专且丕世丗丘丙业丛东丝丞丟丠
両丢丣两严並丧丨丩个丫丬中丮丯丰丱串丳临丵丶丷丸丹为主丼丽举丿乀乁
乂乃乄久乆乇么义乊之乌乍乎乏乐乑乒乓乔乕乖乗乘乙乚乛乜九乞也习乡乢乣乤乥书乧乨乩乪乫乬乭乮乯买乱乲乳乴乵乶乷乸
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6. Proposal summary form to accompany submissions

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2
PROPOSAL SUMMARY FORM TO ACCOMPANY SUBMISSIONSFOR ADDITIONS TO THE REPERTOIRE OF ISO/IEC 10646
TP

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Please fill all the sections A, B and C below.
Please read Principles and Procedures Document (P & P) from http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/principles.html for
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guidelines and details before filling this form.
Please ensure you are using the latest Form from http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/summaryform.html.
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See also http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/roadmaps.html for latest Roadmaps.
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A. Administrative
1. Title:

Proposal to encode Small Seal Script in UCS

2. Requester's name:
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution):
4. Submission date:

TCA and China
Liaison and Member body
2014-09-30

5. Requester's reference (if applicable):
6. Choose one of the following:This is a complete proposal:_ ___________________________________________________(or) More information will be provided later:_______________________________________

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Form number: N4502-F (Original 1994-10-14; Revised 1995-01, 1995-04, 1996-04, 1996-08, 1999-03, 2001-05, 2001-09,
2003-11, 2005-01, 2005-09, 2005-10, 2007-03, 2008-05, 2009-11, 2011-03, 2012-01)
TP

PT

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Yes

B. Technical – General
1. Choose one of the following:a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters):

Yes

Small Seal Script

Proposed name of script:
b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing block:No

Name of the existing block:
2. Number of characters in proposal:

10,516

3. Proposed category (select one from below - see section 2.2 of P&P document):

B

A-Contemporary

B.1-Specialized (small collection)

B.2-Specialized (large collection)

C-Major extinct

D-Attested extinct

E-Minor extinct

F-Archaic Hieroglyphic or Ideographic

G-Obscure or questionable usage symbols

4. Is a repertoire including character names provided?_________________________________________

No

a. If YES, are the names in accordance with the “character naming guidelines”
in Annex L of P&P document?_________________________________________________
b. Are the character shapes attached in a legible form suitable for review?____________________

Yes

5. Fonts related:a. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font to the Project Editor of 10646 for publishing the standard?
TCA and related organizations
b. Identify the party granting a license for use of the font by the editors (include address, e-mail, ftp-site, etc.):
Already agreed with all TCA 、 Experts and related organizations
6. References:a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided?

Yes, see attachedPDF fileb. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources)of proposed characters attached?

Yes

7. Special encoding issues:
Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing (if applicable) such as input,
presentation, sorting, searching, indexing, transliteration etc. (if yes please enclose information)?

No. Additional Information:
Submitters are invited to provide any additional information about Properties of the proposed Character(s) or Script that willassist in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) or script.

Examples of suchproperties are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display behaviour information such as line
breaks, widths etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directional behaviour, Default Collation behaviour, relevance inMark Up contexts, Compatibility equivalence and other Unicode normalization related information. See the Unicode standard
at http://www.unicode.org for such information on other scripts. Also see Unicode Character Database
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( http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr44/ ) and associated Unicode Technical Reports for information needed for consideration byH

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the Unicode Technical Committee for inclusion in the Unicode Standard.

C. Technical - Justification
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before?

No

If YES explain
2. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body,
No

user groups of the script or characters, other experts, etc.)?
If YES, with whom?

Experts of Small Seal, Education, Publishing Industry and seals.

If YES, available relevant documents:
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example:
Nosize, demographics, information technology use, or publishing use) is included?
Reference:

Evidence of use of these characters were reviewed by experts of Small Seal at the time of submission
for Inclusion.

4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
Reference:

CommonWidely used in community of Hanzi users for seals, books, decorations, etc..

5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
If YES, where?

Reference:

Education, Publishing Industry and Stamp industry

6. After giving due considerations to the principles in the P&P document must the proposed characters be entirelyNoin the BMP?
If YES, is a rationale provided?
If YES, reference:
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)?

Yes

8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing
character or character sequence?

No

If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
If YES, reference:
9. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either
existing characters or other proposed characters?

No

If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
If YES, reference:
10. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function)
to, or could be confused with, an existing character?
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
If YES, reference:
11. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences?

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No

If YES, is a rationale for such use provided?

No

If YES, reference:
Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols) provided?
If YES, reference:
12. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as
control function or similar semantics?

No

If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary)

13. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility characters?
If YES, are the equivalent corresponding unified ideographic characters identified?
If YES, reference:

7. Evidence: Small Seal used in daily life
7.1 Stamp / Signet Usage

5.2 Elementary School Teaching

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No

(1) Students practiced in writing Small
Seal（2）Lesson 5 of Elementary Textbook Grade 2

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5.3、Film : Chinese Words Teaching Film

5.4 Dictionary

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End of Document-

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