About the author
Xu Shen, courtesy name Shuzhong, was a native of Zhaoling in Runan (present-day Luohe, Henan) during the Eastern Han dynasty. His birth and death years are unknown. He was a renowned scholar of the classics and of Chinese characters, and held posts including district meritorious officer and magistrate of Xiao. He had a broad mastery of the Five Classics, earning the contemporary praise “Xu Shuzhong, peerless in the Five Classics.” His Shuowen Jiezi is China’s first dictionary to systematically analyze character forms, trace their origins, and arrange entries under 540 radicals, laying a solid foundation for Chinese character studies; later generations honored him as the “Sage of Characters.” The book site lists five works by Xu Shen, including the Shuowen Jiezi, a series of illustrated character books for primary school pupils, and an unannotated edition of the Wujing Yiyi. They are commonly classified under social sciences and examinations. These publications make traditional character scholarship more accessible, showing that his influence extends beyond academic study into today’s character education and learning.
Written (8)
Rating 5.0★ Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters Xu Shen · 2024 Traditional Chinese culture has a long and profound intellectual history, marked by a high degree of originality, inventiveness, and literary quality.… Rating 3.9★ Illustrated Chinese Characters: Grades 1-6 (3 Volumes) Xu Shen / 《画说汉字》编辑部 Shidai Literature Publishing House · 2022 This book takes the Chinese Language Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2011 edition) as its editorial principle and, following the requir… Rating 3.8★ Illustrated Chinese Characters (Primary School Edition) Grades 3–4 Xu Shen / 《画说汉字》编辑部 Shidai Literature Publishing House · 2021 This book provides detailed illustrated explanations of the 1,000 Chinese characters that students in grades 3–4 are required to recognize, following … Rating 3.7★ Illustrated Chinese Characters (Primary School Edition) Grades 5-6 《画说汉字》编辑部 / Xu Shen Shidai Literature Publishing House · 2021 Based on the Chinese language textbooks for grades 5–6, this book provides detailed illustrated explanations of the 900 Chinese characters students in… Shuowen Jiezi (Five Volumes: Complete Text, Full Annotation, Full Translation) Xu Shen / 汤可敬 Zhonghua Book Company · 2018 Shuowen Jiezi is a dictionary compiled by the Eastern Han scholar Xu Shen. It is the first dictionary in the history of the Chinese language to be arr… Rating 3.4★ Wujing Yiyi (Unannotated Edition) Xu Shen · 2015 The contents of this book cover marriage and capping rites, diplomatic inquiries, the conferral of appointments, mourning and sacrificial rites, the B… Rating 4.7★ Shuowen Jiezi (with Pinyin and Stroke Indexes) Xu Shen / Xu Xuan Zhonghua Book Company · 2013 Shuowen Jiezi (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters) is China's first dictionary to systematically analyze character forms, explain meanings, an… A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Chinese Characters Xu Shen / Li Zhaohong / Liu Dongfang China Textile & Apparel Press · 2012 *A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Chinese Characters* is a popular work on Chinese character culture based on Xu Shen's *Shuowen Jiezi* of the …Publishers
Zhonghua Book CompanyChina Textile & Apparel PressShidai Literature Publishing House