Yin xue bian wei 音學辨微 [Distinguishing the Subtleties of Phonological Learning]

57 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. Chengdu: Dun mu tang 敦睦堂, 1924.




A fine copy of Jiang Yong's phonological magnum opus. Phonology, especially historical phonology, developed greatly in the Qing period, and Jiang was one of the scholars who advanced the discipline. Our book is a kind of advanced textbook or compendium of Chinese phonological learning as it stood by the mid-18th century. Jiang discusses key notions such as the 36 initials, "open-mouth" and "closed-mouth" syllables, and the four tones. Yet he also ventures into other topics, such as "the sounds made by children" (yingtong zhi yin 嬰童之音), and the origin of speech.


The book "sums up the phonological theory of the preceding period, explains technical phonological terminology, quotes from the works of earlier scholars, and contains many original ideas of Jiang's. The book reflects the state-of-the-field of phonetic learning at the time and has great value as a reference" (Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典, p. 657).


Jiang Yong (1681-1762) was a philologist and a scholar of historical phonology, mathematics, and astronomy. "Jiang thought of himself as a follower of Mei Wending and understood Mei, not unlike modern scholarship, to be a paragon of Western-Chinese knowledge synthesis" (Ori Sela, China's Philological Turn: Scholars, Textualism, and the Dao in the Eighteenth Century [Columbia: 2018], p. 146).


The printing blocks for our book were carved in 1923 by "Mr. Yan, from Weinan, of the Family School of Filiality and Righteousness" 渭南嚴氏孝義家塾. There is a Preface by Xiang Chu 向楚 (1877-1961), who also collated the book. Jiang Yong's introduction is dated 1759 (Qianlong jimao). Yan's colophon is dated 1924.


Fine copy.