This rime dictionary is the second great dictionary published under the patronage of the great Qing emperor Kangxi and composed under the guidance of Zhang Yushu 張玉書. It is the most comprehensive dictionary of the lexicographical tradition of phonetical dictionaries. The oldest dictionary of this type is the Tang dictionary Qieyun 切韻 ("Cut Rimes") by Lu Fayan 陸法言 (around 600 AD), but it is unfortunatley only preserved in some manuscript fragments from Dunhuang. Together with Lu Deming's 陸德明 Jingdian shiwen 經典釋文 "Comments on Classics and other prose literature", it was a base to reconstruct the old Chinese pronunciation (see Chinese language). The earliest wholly extant rime dictionary is the Song time book Guangyun 廣韻 "Broad rimes". As an example for a rimed dictionary, we take the first rime group from the Peiwen yunfu. Source: Zhongguo da baike quanshu, Zhongguo lishi

Exemplarious translation: ＜上平聲＞，＜一東韻＞ 東、同、銅、桐、筒、童、僮、瞳、筩、中、衷、忠、蟲、沖、終、戎．．．嵩．．．弓．．．雄．．．風．．．隆．．．空．．．公 【東】德紅切。春方也。《漢書》：少陽在—方，—動也。從日在木中。會意也。《禮記》：大明生於—，又姓。《陶潛聖賢群輔錄》：舜友—不訾。 High and rising tone rimes, First Rime group dong east dong east, tong common, tong bronze, tong pawlonia, tong tube, tong child, tong servant, tong pupil of the eye, tong bamboo pipe, zhong middle, zhong appropriate, zhong loyal, chong insects, chong rushing, zhong final, rong army... song lofty mountain... gong bow... xiong hero... feng wind... long prosperous, kong hollow, gong official... East, pronounced like D- and -ONG (dong). The direction of the spring. Hanshu ("History of Former Han Dynasty"): The east is where the sun is born, dong "east" means dong "moving". Compounded of the character for sun inside a tree. Character type "combining meanigs". Book of Rites: The great illumination is born in the east. This word is also a surname. Shengxianqun Fulu ("Revised Records of the many Saints and Wises") by Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming): Emperor Shun loved the east and never spoke badly of it. 韻藻【南東】《詩》：——其畝。《李孝先詩》：余其歸老兮沂之——。《邵寶詩》：楚帆連日阻——。 Noun Combinations: Southeast. Book of Songs: In the southeast are the fields. Poems of Li Xiaoxian: When I retire in old age, I will go southeast of the River Yi. Poems of Zhao Bao: The sailboats of Chu day by day stop at the southeast. 增【震東】《易》：——方也。《漢書》：震在於東方，為春，為木。《朱子》：——兌西。 Verb-Noun Completions: Shivering + east. Book of Changes: The hexagram zhen "shivering" represents the east. Hanshu: The hexagram zhen belongs to the east. It signifies the spring and the element wood. Master Zhu Xi: The hexagram zhen is the east, the hexagram dui is the west. 對語：渭北。日下。河內。河朔。雲北。海右。江東。 Synonymes: North of the River Wei. Under the sun. Inside the Yellow River... North of the Yellow River. North of the clouds. On the right side to the sea... East of the Yangtse River. 摘句：力障百川東。攜琴又向東。河源落日東。 Quotations: Separated by force, the hundred rivers flow to the east... Taking the zither and going to the east... At the source of the Yellow river, the sun sets in the east. Translated by Ulrich Theobald.