The project was funded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Government in 1999 to extend the CHANT Database of excavated materials incorporating the entire body of bronze inscriptions (Jinwen). The data of this project were based on the Compilation of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions published by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. There are altogether 12021 bronze vessels, around 18,000 copies of the original inscriptions, 1 millions words of data explanation and 140,000 words of orthographic translation in our database. The database, when completed in early 2003, would provide handy searches for original Jinwen characters, orthographic translation as well as other useful functions.
Prof. Jao Tsung I was the academic advisor of the project and Ms Shen Jian Hua was responsible for data preparation and emendation. Mainland scholars, for instances, Prof. Liu Chao and Prof. Zhu Fenghan, were also invited to assist in the editorial work for the utmost accuracy. The database not only will fulfill the needs of those who are interested in researching on bronze inscriptions, but also the academic requirements of the field.
- Based on the award-winning Compilation of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions.
- Different searches on Jinwen characters available: based on original Jinwen radicals or radicals of standard Chinese characters.
- There are punctuations in the orthographic translation which are displayed in two formats for easy understanding of original Jinwen characters and their meanings.
- Corresponding display of original Jinwen characters and orthographic translation in Windows available.
- Detailed information of each bronze vessel is included.
- It provides the frequencies of each individual Jinwen characters.