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Xiaozilu 小字錄

Feb 7, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Xiaozilu 小字錄 "On childhood names" is an encyclopaedia on personal names compiled during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) by Chen Si 陳思 (1225-1264). Not much is known about his life and career. Has compiled a lot of scholarly books, like Baoke congbian 寶刻叢編, Haitangpu 海棠譜, Shuxiaoshi 書小史, Shuyuan jinghua 書苑菁華, or Liangsong mingxian xiaoji 兩宋名賢小記.

The Xiaozilu follows the idea of Lu Guimeng's 陸龜蒙 (d. 881) Xiaominglu 小名錄 to give an overview to the childhood names of historical persons. The names of emperors and rulers are listed first, and then that of other persons, arranged chronologically. The Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Shen Hongzheng 沈宏正 wrote a supplement. The Xiaozilu is, nevertheless, still not a complete collection of known childhood names.

The first print was published by Shen Hongzheng during the Ming period. The Xiaozilu is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 2, 2041.
Zhao Hankun 趙含坤 (2005). Zhongguo leishu 中國類書 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin chubanshe), 140.