Sisheng pianhai 四聲篇海 and Xiangjiao pianhai 詳校篇海

Sisheng pianhai 四聲篇海 "The sea of characters in four tone-pitches", also called Wuyin leiju sisheng pianhai 五音類聚四聲篇海 or Wuyin zengshou bing leiju sisheng pianhai 五音增收并類聚四聲篇海, is a dictionary arranged according to pronunciation compiled by Han Xiaoyan 韓孝彥, courtesy name Yunzhong 允中, and his son Han Daozhao 韓道昭, courtesy name Bohui 伯暉. They lived in Zhending 真定 (today's Zhengding 正定, Hebei) under the Jin Empire 金 (1115-1234).

They also organised the character entries of the Sisheng pianhai according to rhyme group (see she rhymes 攝), creating a work of 15 juan initially called Wuyin jiyun 五音集韻 "Collection of rhymes in five tones", which is arranged according to the Guangyun rhymes 廣韻. Both works circulated concurrently. The radical system uses the ancient dictionary Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 as a model, but merges several dozen radicals, and adds a few new radicals.

Figure 1. Page of the Chongkan gaibing wuyin leiju sisheng pianhai 重刊改併五音類聚四聲篇海

Entries of characters with the radical "metal" (jin 金), belonging to the initial group /k-/ (見母). For some entries, the source dictionary is indicated by symbols (○◒◓). Under the heading of the radical 金, the lemmas are arranged according to the number of residual strokes, indicated by encircled numbers (㊃㊄).

Han Xiaoyan compiled his dictionary during the reign of Emperor Zhangzong 金章宗 (r. 1189-1208), between the Mingchang 明昌 (1190-1195) and Cheng'an 承安 (1196-1200) reign-periods. It was initially called Wuyinpian 五音篇 "Five-tone chapters". The entries draw on the dictionaries Yupian 玉篇, Leipian 類篇, and Longkan shoujing 龍龕手鏡. The Wuyinpian was divided into 579 sections, organised by 36 initial sounds (zimu 字母). Within each section, characters sharing the same initial sound were further ordered by the four tone pitches, namely level (pingsheng 平聲), rising (shangsheng 上聲), departing (qusheng 去聲), and "entering" (rusheng 入聲). Characters within each section were further ordered by the number of brush strokes. In total, the book included 42,771 character entries. In 1208, Han Daozhao revised and consolidated the dictionary into 440 sections. The 135 merged sections followed the principles of "larger follows smaller" (yi da cong xiao 以大從小), "compound follows simple" (yi he cong dan 以合從單), and "similar forms are unified" (xing jin gui yi 形近歸一), ensuring systematic organisation.

By 1212, the complete revision of the book was finished, collecting a total of 55,116 characters—an increase of 12,345 characters. Most of the additional characters originated from the Souzhen yujing 搜真玉鏡, with some being "simplified or popularly transmitted characters" (jian bi su chuan zhi zi 減筆俗傳之字). The descriptive bibliography Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 states that rare and unusual characters are all included. However, there are many errors, simply adding to the complexity and fragmentation.

This revised and expanded edition was called Wuyin zenggai bing leiju sisheng pianhai 五音增改并類聚四聲篇海 "Expanded and revised collection of characters arranged by rhyme and the four tones), later shortened to Wuyin leiju sisheng pianhai 五音類聚四聲篇海, and further abbreviated as Sisheng pianhai 四聲篇海. Among ancient Chinese dictionaries, this work contained the largest number of characters; even the Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 has over 8,000 fewer characters.

According to Han Daozhao's preface, this book sourced its material from nine dictionaries: Yupian, Yuwen 余文, Xiyun 奚韻, Leipian, Longkan shoujing, Chuanpian 川篇, Duiyun yinxun 對韻音訓, Souzhen yujing, and Suzi beipian 俗字背篇. While the Yupian served as the basic source book, statements from the other books are indicated by special signs, e.g., ○ for Yuwen, ● for Xiyun, ◒ for Leipian and ◓ for Longkan shoujian. This suggests that the Sisheng pianhai was a compilation of earlier dictionaries, and the extensive data it preserved is of notable value.

In 1467, the monks Wenru 文儒, Siyuan 思遠, and Wenchun 文淳 combined the Sisheng pianhai with the Wuyin jiyun and published them under the title Pianyun leiju 篇韻類聚 or Wuyin pianyun 五音篇韻.

The earliest surviving printed edition was created in 1471. Later editions include those from 1515 and 1520. During the Ming era 明 (1368-1644), the bookseller Jia Juzhi 賈據之 compiled the Pianhai leibian 篇海類編 in twenty juan, attributing it to Song Lian 宋濂 (1310-1381) and claiming it was revised by Tu Long 屠隆 (1543-1605). The work contained numerous absurdities and mistakes, and knowledgeable readers criticised it.

As a result, the title Sisheng pianhai was further abbreviated to merely Pianhai 篇海. Presently, only Ming editions remain; it was not included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, and is recorded solely in the section of existing books (cunmu 存目) of the catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao.

A further revision of the book was carried out by Li Deng 李登 and published in 1608 with the title Chongkan xiangjiao pianhai 重刊詳校篇海, with a length of 5 juan, each divided into two parts (qiance 前冊, houce 後冊), which means 10 fascicles in total. This edition eliminated the headlines of the initial sound groups but retained the arrangement according to pronunciation and radicals.