JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4855
2017-09-08
Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set
International Organization for Standardization
Organisation Internationale de NormalisationМеждународная организация по стандартизацииTitle: Comments on Encoding of Small Seal Script Characters
Source: The Chinese Character Database Program (China)
Status: Individual Contribution
Action： For Consideration
Reference: N4755(TCA)

We support TCA’s proposition in N4755 (TCA Feedback on N4716 Shuowen SmallSeal) on encoding Shuowen small Seal characters.
During the development of the Chinese Character Database Program(CCDP for short),
we compared such five different editions of 大徐本說文 as 藤花榭 Edition, 平津館 Edition, 汲古閣 Edition（reproduced by 淮南書局 Publishing Company）, 陳昌
治 Edition and 岩崎 Edition, and created character patterns for the collated graphic
forms of the first four editions. Based on the jobs mentioned above, we provide such
perspectives for your reference as below：
1. Each of the five editions contains 11,108 prefixes（including Chongwen）. We
collated the first four of them and created a character pattern for each formal variant
in those Editions(12,750 in total) .
2. The arrangement of prefix（including Chongwen）and the sequence of the charactersin all five editions are identical, with only a few exceptions of taboo characters anderroneous characters.

序号

藤花榭

陈昌治

平津館

汲古閣

岩崎本

123456789103. In terms of taboo characters and erroneous characters, different editions areidentical in the arrangement of character sequence, although they vary in thearrangement of prefixes. As the following chart illustrated, due to the taboo, thecharacter “禛”(No.23) in 藤花榭 Edition is replaced with a different character “正”,while in 陳昌治 Edition, it is the same character only with a stroke deliberately leftout.
2223244. The main difference of the five editions lie in the different graphic forms ofcharacters.The difference can be divided into two types: the calligraphic ones and thestructural ones. For example: in 平津館 Edition the form of character 餰 iswhile in other editions, the left component is written as “食”. Here is another example：in 陳昌治 Edition, 平津館 Edition and 汲古閣 Edition the right component of thecharacter “𦕒𦕒”（pronounced as 丁&兼）is “占”, while in 藤花榭 Edition and 岩崎
Edition, it is erroneously written as “古”.
序号8770

藤花榭
81

陈昌治
87

平津館
57

汲古閣
101

岩崎本109Since the diversity among the editions is secondary to the uniformity, we agree thatSmall Seal Script characters should be encoded on the basis of a selected principaledition. We also believe that variant forms in other editions should be taken in toexpand the code chart of Small Seal Script step by step, since the diversity in graphic
forms among different editions are reflections of the diversity of carving andrecognition of the characters.
6. As to the selection of a principal edition, we preferred 陳昌治 Edition while Qiu
Xigui, the chief project expert of CCDP , holds a different view: “陳昌治 Edition is a
reproduction of 孫星衍重刊宋本 (Sun’s Reproduction of a Song Edition) and theSmall Seal Script Forms in 陳昌治 Edition were also carved as a copy. Therefore 孫星衍 Edition would be the best choice if we take into account the value of the edition,even though it might be more convenient to do the job using 陳昌治 Edition.
According to the prologue of 孫星衍 Edition, the Small Seal Script in this edition
were copied by Gu Guangxin(顧廣圻), a renowned scholar, thus makes it morereliable than 陳昌治 Edition.”
After a discussion in CCDP, we tend to believe that the selection of a principal edition
would become a less critical issue as long as all variant forms from the other editions
are to be included in steps.

To sum up, we agree with the idea of encoding Small Seal Script as independent
characters based mainly on 藤花榭 Edition, and also suggest to expand the Standard
Code Chart by adding variant forms from the other editions in steps. Up to now
CCDP has already built up a fairly good foundation on the collation of Small Seal
Script. We are more than willing to help with the preparation of the proposal as wellas the succeeding code expansion, and we hope that CCDP can be listed as one of thesubmitters. Looking forward to collaborating with TCA in the future.

(End of document)