In the modern standard dictionary, published in 1716, under the direction of the Emperor K’ang Hsi, there are only 214 indicators employed, and there is a further sub-arrangement of these groups according to the number of strokes in the other, the phonetic portion of the character.  Thus, the indicators “hand,” “wood,” “fire,” “water,” or whatever it may be, settle the group in which a given character will be found, and the number of strokes in the remaining portion will refer it to a comparatively small sub-group, from which it can be readily picked out.  For instance, [song] “a fir tree” will be found under the indicator [mu] “tree,” sub-group No. 4, because the remaining portion [gong] consists of four strokes in writing.

Good copies of this dictionary are not too easily obtained nowadays.  The “Palace” edition, as it is called, is on beautifully white paper, and is a splendid specimen of typography.

A most wonderful literary feat was achieved under the direction of the before-mentioned Emperor K’ang Hsi, when a general Concordance to the phraseology of all literature was compiled and published for general use.  Word-concordances to the Bible and to Shakespeare are generally looked upon as no small undertakings, but what about a phrase-concordance to all literature?  Well, in 1711 this was successfully carried out, and remains to-day as a monument of the literary enterprise of the great Manchu-Tartar monarch with whose name it is inseparably associated.

The term “literature” here means serious literature, the classics, histories, poetry, and the works of philosophers, of recognised authorities, and of brilliant writers generally.

It was not possible, for obvious reasons, to arrange this collection of phrases according to the 214 indicators, as in a dictionary of words.  It is arranged according to the Tones and Rhymes.

Let me try to express all this in terms of English literature.  Reading a famous poem, I come across the lines

  “And every shepherd tells his tale
   Under the hawthorn in the dale.”

Now suppose that I do not know the meaning of “tells his tale.” [I recollect perfectly that as a boy I thought it meant “whispered the old story into the ear of a shepherdess.”] I determine to hunt it up in the Concordance.  First of all, I find out from the Dictionary, if I do not know, to what Tone tale, always the last word of the phrase, belongs.  Under that tone will be found various groups of words, each with a key-word which is called the Rhyme, that is to say, a key-word with which all the words in this group rhyme.  There are only 106 of these key-words all together distributed over the Tones, and every word in the Chinese language must rhyme with one of them.