Chapter 10: Practice - Advanced 1

Read the Xu Shen paragraph written in phonetic symbols.

Click on the sentences to play its corresponding audio.

ㄅㄨˋ
ㄕㄡˇ
ㄕˋ
ㄗㄣˇ
ㄇㄜ˙
ㄌㄞˊ
ㄉㄧˊ
?
Where did radicals come from?
ㄓㄜˋ
ㄍㄜˋ
ㄘˊ
ㄕˋ
ㄒㄩˇ
ㄕㄣˋ
ㄔㄨㄤˋ
ㄉㄧˊ
This term was created by Xu Shen.
ㄒㄩˇ
ㄕㄣˋ
ㄕˋ
ㄉㄨㄥ
ㄏㄢˋ
ㄖㄣˊ
,
ㄊㄚ
ㄩㄥˋ
ㄌㄧㄠˇ
ㄦˋ
ㄕˊ
ㄋㄧㄢˊ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄕˊ
ㄐㄧㄢ
ㄨㄢˊ
ㄔㄥˊ
ㄌㄧㄠˇ
ㄓㄨㄥ
ㄍㄨㄛˊ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄉㄧˋ
ㄅㄣˇ
ㄗˋ
ㄉㄧㄢˇ
ㄕㄨㄛ
ㄨㄣˊ
ㄐㄧㄝˇ
ㄗˋ
Xu Shen lived during Eastern Han dynasty, and he spent 20 years completing the first Chinese dictionary: Shuo Wen Jie Zi.
ㄒㄩˇ
ㄕㄣˋ
ㄅㄧㄥˋ
ㄅㄨˋ
ㄉㄠˋ
ㄧㄡˇ
ㄐㄧㄚˇ
ㄍㄨˇ
ㄨㄣˊ
,
ㄊㄚ
ㄒㄧㄝˇ
ㄕㄨㄛ
ㄨㄣˊ
ㄐㄧㄝˇ
ㄗˋ
ㄓㄨˇ
ㄧㄠˋ
ㄕˋ
ㄐㄩˋ
ㄒㄧㄠˇ
ㄓㄨㄢˋ
Xu Shen did not know of oracle bone scripts; he wrote the Shuo Wen Jie Zi based on simple seal scripts.
ㄒㄩˇ
ㄕㄣˋ
ㄧㄢˊ
ㄐㄧㄡ
ㄗˋ
ㄒㄧㄥˊ
ㄗˋ
ㄧˋ
ㄅㄚˇ
ㄗㄠˋ
ㄗˋ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄩㄢˊ
ㄗㄜˊ
ㄍㄨㄟ
ㄋㄚˋ
ㄔㄥˊ
ㄌㄧㄡˋ
ㄌㄡˊ
ㄐㄧㄠˋ
ㄗㄨㄛˋ
ㄌㄧㄡˋ
ㄕㄨ
Xu Shen used his research into character form and meaning to describe six principles of character formation, called 'Liushu'.
ㄌㄧㄡˋ
ㄕㄨ
ㄕㄨㄛ
ㄇㄧㄥˊ
ㄌㄧㄠˇ
ㄙˋ
ㄓㄨㄥˇ
ㄗㄠˋ
ㄗˋ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄈㄤ
ㄈㄚˇ
ㄒㄧㄤˋ
ㄒㄧㄥˊ
ㄓˇ
ㄕˋ
ㄏㄨㄟˋ
ㄧˋ
ㄒㄧㄥˊ
ㄕㄥ
ㄏㄜˊ
ㄌㄧㄤˇ
ㄓㄨㄥˇ
ㄩㄥˋ
ㄗˋ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄈㄤ
ㄈㄚˇ
ㄓㄨㄢˇ
ㄓㄨˋ
ㄏㄜˊ
ㄐㄧㄚˇ
ㄐㄧㄝˋ
The Liushu explained four methods of creating characters: pictographic,indicative, ideograph, and meaning-sound; plus two ways of expanding the messages of characters: synonym and 'borrowed' characters.
ㄨㄟˊ
ㄌㄧㄠˇ
使
ㄕˇ
ㄩㄥˋ
ㄈㄤ
便
ㄅㄧㄢˋ
ㄊㄚ
ㄅㄚˇ
ㄗˋ
ㄉㄧㄢˇ
ㄌㄧˇ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄐㄧㄡˇ
ㄑㄧㄢ
ㄉㄨㄛ
ㄗˋ
ㄈㄣ
ㄔㄥˊ
5
4
0
ㄅㄨˋ
For convenience, he divided nine thousand characters into 540 groups.
ㄇㄟˇ
ㄅㄨˋ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄗˋ
ㄉㄨ
ㄧㄡˇ
ㄒㄧㄤ
ㄊㄨㄥˊ
ㄉㄧˊ
ㄅㄨˋ
ㄐㄧㄢˋ
ㄐㄧㄠˋ
ㄗㄨㄛˋ
ㄅㄨˋ
ㄕㄡˇ
Each character in a group shares a common component, known as the 'radical'.

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