The 71st section has already written: I can no longer continue writing my English topic, turn to reading history and ancient poetry, fulfill my long-standing wish, and embark on the study of Chinese. The primary topic is Chinese history, so it is natural to take notes to facilitate writing with solid evidence. At the same time, I will record some words, phrases, and idioms that I want to master, and provide example sentences, which is called "character、Word and Idiom (CWI)Reading Notes". As time goes by, the content of the notes becomes more and more, and it is not convenient to look them up later. So I thought of sorting them by pinyin, firmly believing that 'not afraid of too much, but afraid of chaos'. The file is too large, so let's first create files in alphabetical order. The file is still very large, so it is better to create files based on the syllables of CWI or grouping them according to homophones. If there are too many homophones, files will be formed according to the score of radicals, which is like a Chinese word idiom reference book. Worried that some simple characters might not be included, I decided to do two things: first, I filled in all 3500 commonly used characters of the National Language and Writing Committee, and added 2891 more than commonly used characters, for a total of 6391 Chinese characters. Still worried about losing commonly used words, I compared it with the Modern Chinese Standard Dictionary and spent almost two months making the single word count of my reading notes reach 9988. Later, I filled in some obscure words one after another, bringing the total number of single characters to over 10000, with a total of 2778 files. The number of words and idioms has not been counted and is constantly increasing. As time goes by, I will keep reading and collecting words, phrases, and idioms until I can no longer work, determined to sharpen this sword for life.
The beginning of reading note was when I collected records of characters, words, and idioms while reading. Later, it developed into intentionally collecting characters, words, and idioms, subjectively wanting to create a large-scale reference book for Chinese vocabulary. As the note grew larger and larger, I felt a sense of frustration in my heart. Can I include all characters, words, and idioms in it? Who else will use my unnamed reference book? Nowadays, the Baidu search engine is all inclusive and recently appears an artificial intelligence, ie AI answer, which readers can quickly use on their mobile phones.
I naturally remembered the story of Jingwei filling the sea in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: "The girl of Emperor Yan, named Nuwa. Nuwa swam in the East China Sea and drowned without returning, so she was called Jingwei. She often carried the wood and stones of the West Mountain to fill in the East China Sea." This means that there is a bird in the forest, shaped like a crow, with patterned feathers on its head, a white beak, and red feet. Its name is Jingwei, and its call sounds like calling out its own name. This is actually the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan, so she transformed into a Jingwei bird. Often carrying branches and stones from the western mountains, used to fill the East China Sea. There is a total number of Chinese characters, and the number of idioms can also be counted. Vocabulary is a bottomless pit, so there is a saying of "sea of words". My behavior is like Jingwei filling the sea, it's a big joke. To encourage my behavior, I wrote a wordless quatrain:
http://www.rgzhx.cn/hany/3166.html
Transforming Jingwei from filling the sea to building an island with stones
Do not speak highly of a humble position,
Suspend car and enjoy being carefree,
Reading over ten thousand rolls without being interfered,
Holding stones in mouth [1], building Green Island [2].
Note:
[1] Title: The author collects ancient Chinese words and idioms through reading notes, which are as foolish as Jingwei filling the sea.
[2] Green Island: Jingwei’s reclamation has no end in sight, while my collecting words and idioms is like building a green island in the sea. Despite the long construction period, the goal is achievable, and after completion, I hope literati and scholars will enjoy it.
Even if I complete all the words, phrases, and idioms through hard work that ordinary or even professional readers need to search for, who would know them in my computer? I am struggling to ponder and explore.
Oct 1 of 2024, Tuesday
