annalist Chow (籀) invented a new system of writing. This became known as the Ta-chuan or Great Seal character. The term chuan (篆), however, is also said to mean "record," as if ch'uan (傳), because this kind of writing was to be capable of recording everything for ever. Chow, who is often called Shih-chow (史籀), is said to have written a treatise in fifteen chapters, sometimes called the "Ta-chuan" and sometimes "Shih-chow's Fifteen Chapters." This work survived the fires of Ch'in, but in the troubled period of Wang Mang's usurpation six chapters were lost. The remaining nine lived on for a few ages and gradually disappeared. A number of the characters, however, were preserved in other treatises and were used as specimens of Chow's system of writing. These characters are sometimes said to be merely altered forms of those called "tadpole;" they were in some respects like, and in others unlike, the old systems of writing (Ku-wên). And although Chow's system was an improvement on these, it did not supersede them. They continued to be used, at least for literary purposes, down to the end of this period. But Chow's invention had the effect of producing a considerable number of new characters, and of restricting to a small extent the applications of those already existing. Yet growth in number is said to have been followed by an increase in the misuse of characters. These were written in many very different manners throughout the kingdom, and the sounds given to them varied also. One state wrote and pronounced in one way, another in another way, and so, towards the end of this dynasty, the language, written and spoken, was in a state of great uncertainty and confusion.[1]
When the Prince of Ch'in (秦) was settled on the throne of China (B.C. 221) he set himself to make reforms and bring in order and certainty. This proud, ambitious sovereign, Ch'in Shi Huang Ti, wished to make his reign the beginning of a new state
- ↑ "Han-Shu," chap. xxx.; 說文 chap. xv. Chu Fu-tzŭ writes to a friend that the "Urh-ya" was a compilation of the explanations and definitions given by the scholars of former and contemporary times made into a book, but that it has inaccuracies and cannot be regarded as old (爾雅乃是纂集古今諸儒訓話以成書其閒蓋亦不能無誤不足据以爲古)—朱子全書 chap. lii.
