Xiandai Hanyu Cidian
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| Contemporary Chinese Dictionary | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Research Institutes of Language Department of Dictionary |
| Country |  China |
| Language | Chinese |
| Genre(s) | Dictionary |
| Publisher | Commercial Press (Beijing) |
| Publication date | December 1978 (1st edition) June 2012 (6th edition) |
| Pages | 1789 pages |
| ISBN | 9787100084673 |
Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (simplified Chinese: 现代汉语词典; traditional Chinese: 現代漢語詞典; pinyin: Xiàndài Hànyǔ Cídiǎn), also known as the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, is an authoritative one-volume Chinese language dictionary published by the Commercial Press, now into its 6th (2012) edition. It was originally edited by Lu Shuxiang and Ding Shusheng as a reference work on modern Standard Chinese. Compilation started in 1958 and trial editions were issued in 1960 and 1965, with a number of copies printed in 1973 for internal circulation and comments, but due to the Cultural Revolution the final draft was not completed until the end of 1977, and the first formal edition was not published until December 1978. It was the first People's Republic of China dictionary to be arranged according to Hanyu Pinyin, the phonetic standard for Standard Chinese, with explanatory notes in simplified Chinese. The subsequent second through sixth editions were respectively published in 1983, 1996, 2002, 2005, and 2012.
The first edition of the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary won China's First National Book Award and was compiled as an authoritative reference work for modern native Chinese speakers. Although the Xiandai Hanyu Dictionary is not as comprehensive as the multi-volumed Hanyu Da Cidian, the single-volume dictionary is popular, especially amongst students at tertiary levels and the general populace. In comparison, the more compactly sized Xinhua Zidian tends to target native learners at the primary to secondary levels.
The fifth edition contains about 56,000 entries including characters, words and expressions, idiomatic phrases and idioms. The dictionary is also available in digital format on CD-ROMs and Traditional Chinese digital versions.
