XU, Shen.

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Xushi shuowen jiezi ("Explication of Written Characters"). An early 20th-century Shanghai edition of the oldest dictionary of Chinese characters, assembled by the politician and calligrapher Xu Shen (c.58-148) in the first century CE. The characters are divided into 14 chapters by radical and printed in their seal script form. The dictionary also notes variant forms and provides guidance on pronunciation.For two millennia, the Shuowen jiezi was an essential reference for scholar-officials. Its importance to the study of Chinese cultural and linguistic history cannot be overstated.

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