Guo Pu
The "Erya" was considered the authoritative lexicographic guide to Chinese classic texts during the Han Dynasty, and Song dynasty Confucians officially categorized it as one of the Thirteen Classics, "making it one of the more revered works in the history of Chinese literature, not to mention lexicography" (Creamer 1992: 112). Although the only ancient "Erya" commentary that has come down to us is the (c. 310) "Erya zhu" (, ""Erya" Commentary") by Guo Pu (276–324), there were a number of others, including the (early 1st century) "Erya Fanshi zhu" (, "Mr. Fan's "Erya" Commentary") by Liu Xin, and the (late 3rd century) "Erya Yinyi" (, "Sounds and Meanings of "Erya") by Sun Yan, which popularized the "fanqie" system of pronunciation glosses (Needham 1986: 191).