Category Archives: Character variants

Taboo characters in Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang

Posted on 06/18/2013 by imre

This is a paper that came out in China. The font is a bit odd but readable. The paper examines how consistently the imperial name taboos were observed in Buddhist texts from Dunhuang. Many scholars in the past have observed … Continue reading →

Posted in Character variants, Chinese writing, Dating, Dunhuang, Orthography, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Odd variants in a Buddhist manuscript

Posted on 08/20/2012 by imre

There is a Dunhuang copy of the Da fangbian Fo baoenjing 大方便佛報恩經 (The sutra of requiting kindness) at the National Library of China (shelfmark BD01534) which has a number of interesting character variants. One of them is the character 爾 … Continue reading →

Posted in Character variants, Chinese writing, Dating, Dunhuang, Orthography, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Graphic variability in a Ming printed book

Posted on 07/19/2011 by imre

Lately, I have been working with Ming editions of Zhuge Kongming Xinshu 諸葛孔明心書, a military text attributed to Zhuge Liang but which is most likely an early Song forgery. The earliest edition I was able to inspect was a moveably type … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Character variants, Chinese writing, Ming dynasty, Orthography | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Manuscript of medieval character dictionary digitized

Posted on 02/04/2011 by imre

Manuscript Or.8210/S.388 from the Stein collection at the British Library is finally digitized and available at the IDP website. This is a manuscript that has been written/copied sometime between the late 6th and first half of 7th centuries, and records … Continue reading →

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Unattested character variant

Posted on 01/04/2011 by imre

Last May, Sam and I went on a trip to Gansu and Qinghai provinces to visit the sites along a medieval pilgrimage route. (On this trip, see Sam’s entry on his blog: Amdo Notes II.) I got to Lanzhou first … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th century, Character variants, Chinese writing, Dunhuang, epigraphy, Orthography | Tagged , | 3 Comments