A joint venture to compile a grand Chinese dictionary

The best Chinese dictionary we have, to the regret of all of us, is the Kangxi Dictionary, which was published with the authorization of the Qing emperor of that name who ruled China from 1662 to 1723. The authority of the most comprehensive dictionary of all time in China is somewhat like that of the King James' version of the English Bible. Many Chinese dictionaries have been published in modern China with new words, terms and phrases included, but none of them match the Kangxi Dictionary, which is still in use today.

Of course, the Kangxi Dictionary is of little help to those who study the Chinese language today, for it lacks entries for thousands upon thousands of new words coined over the past century and a half since China was exposed to Western civilization. Chinese lexicography has failed to catch up with time. So much so that you, more often than not, can't find words you want to know in Chinese dictionaries available at our book shops.

The lack of good Chinese dictionaries, incidentally, has made it impossible for editors to come up with satisfactory Chinese-English dictionaries which English-speaking students of Chinese need most. Translators are also in sad need of good Chinese-English dictionaries, which cannot be compiled simply because there are no truly good comprehensive Chinese dictionaries on which the editors can anchor their compilation. Try to look for words commonly used in our daily life in any Chinese-English dictionary, and you will be disappointed there are no such entries.

As a matter of fact, we should have long started compiling a grand Chinese dictionary, our version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The greatest lexicographic endeavor, the OED took 70 years to complete. The scheme of a complete new English dictionary was conceived in 1858. It took 20 years for the editors to collect materials and the actual preparation of the dictionary began to take active form in 1878. The first part was published in 1884. The work was finished in 1928. It contains a record of 414,825 words, whose history is illustrated by 1,827, 306 quotations. An important supplement appeared in 1933. The supplement is known as the NED (New English Dictionary).

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