As the first volume of a two-volume set on Chinese ancient characters and newly unearthed literature, this book brings together the author’s research articles that discuss the development of Chinese characters and the tradition of Chinese palaeography.

The 23 chapters in this book focus on two aspects of Chinese characters. The first 13 chapters centre on the evolution of Chinese characters, analysing the composition system and its transformation, the motivation, and mechanisms behind its evolution, as well as the methodology of the study of ancient characters. The subsequent 10 chapters mainly revolve around Shuowen Jiezi, one of the oldest character dictionaries in China. The author offers a novel understanding of the core issues related to this most important philological work, such as the version of the dictionary, misunderstandings in previous scholarship, and its relations with other palaeographical materials.

The title will appeal to students and scholars of Sinology, Chinese philology, and palaeography, as well as Chinese characters.