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今年62岁的理查德·希尔斯曾经是美国田纳西州的一名电脑工程师。他花了20年时间建立了一个庞大的汉字字库并将其公布在自己的网站上。中国网民知道他的壮举之后,纷纷感叹和惊叹。
关于汉字,希尔斯的一生有三个转折点。
第一个转折点是1972年。当时,22岁的希尔斯有一天突然想到,全世界只有7%的人母语是英语,便萌发了要学一门外语的念头。他决定学习与英语有天壤之别的中文。他买了一张单程机票到了台北,到处找人说话学说汉语。在此期间,他认识了一位台湾女子,后来成为他的妻子。希尔斯学会说中国话,但是读写进步却不大。过了两年半,他赚到了机票钱才回美国。
希尔斯在大学本科专业是物理学,研究生读的是计算机科学,后来做了计算机程序员。到了1990年,他有了研究汉字演化的激情。原来,他觉得读写中文非常困难,汉字5000个,词语60000个,却毫无规律可言。他设想,如果理解了汉字从古到今的演变过程,就容易了解掌握。不过,他找不到得心应手的工具书:有解释汉字字源的英文书,但不够清楚、全面;关于汉字字源的中文书很多,也有不错的权威著作,只是没有英文解释。他想动手搞一个研究项目来解决:将所有汉字字源都包括进来,用英语解释,这样,学习中文就会容易得多。于是,他开始着手准备。
第二个转折点是1994年。年仅44岁的希尔斯在台湾突发心脏病,回美国诊断,医生说他的生命只剩一年。他的心脏安了支架,做了搭桥手术。这一场大病彻底改变了他的人生。前一年,他还健壮得可以跑马拉松,现在却要面对死亡。希尔斯决定立即动手建立一个可以用计算机检索的古汉字字库。
此前,希尔斯已经收集了相当的资料,建立一个古汉字字库的计算机程序难不倒作为电脑程序员的他,但要将这些汉字的演变统统输入进去,却必须靠手工。在身体转好不久,他请人扫描了《说文解字》《金文编》《甲骨文编》和《六书通》上所有的字源。这些书都是他从中国买回来的。
买书、去中国回美国、扫描工费、建网站,都要花钱。多年下来,他算算总共花了大约30万美元。
2002年,互联网飞速发展,他建成了汉语字源网站,把整理出来的古汉字数据库在网上公开,免费让公众使用。
在这个叫做“汉字字源”的网站里,希尔斯对6552个最常用的现代汉字进行了字源分析,其中收集编列超过96000个古代汉字字形、31876个甲骨文、24223个金文以及秦汉的11109个大篆书、596个小篆体。希尔斯不仅给每个现代汉字都做了英文释义,还列出了部分普通话、台语、粤语和上海方言的语音数据库,输入任何单一的汉字,就可以查到该字简单的英文释义、简繁体表示、Unicode码、声部、意部的表示以及该字来源等,人们几乎可以查到每一个汉字的演变过程。
2008年,希尔斯离了婚,搬进只有一间房的公寓。他继续干他赔钱的事业。有些朋友觉得他疯了,觉得他纯粹是在浪费钱,或者干脆认为他是在浪费生命。
希尔斯人生中的第三个转折点发生在2011年。之前,他的网站大约有13000个用户,绝大多数是外国人。希尔斯说,有不少人用他的网上资料写博士论文,他所知道的就不下20个。这一年初,网友在新浪微博里报告了希尔斯的汉字网站,用户数立即激增到60000人,其中绝大多数是中国人。接着,很多中国媒体报道了他的情况,最大的英文报纸《中国日报》也对外报道了“汉字叔叔”。百度百科中有关于他的词条。
尽管希尔斯的网站在中国引起了注意,但他依然是一个失业者,依然孑然一身,依然生活窘迫。最困难的时候,他甚至不能负担服务器每年47美元的租赁费。后来,希尔斯在网站上挂出自己在Paypal和支付宝的账户,依靠别人的捐款以维持网站并帮补生活。但捐款十分不稳定。
2012年5月,希尔斯受邀来中国天津参加“中国因你更美丽”颁奖盛典。他决定留下,并在天津近郊租了一套小居室。除了睡觉,希尔斯每天要花三分之一的时间对网站的资料库进行维护,其他时候,他的生活内容,一是继续研究中国汉字以及其他文化,二是给中学生辅导英语口语,这也是他目前唯一的生活经济来源。他的境遇再次引起中国网民和媒体的关注。这一次,他不仅收到了不少捐款,还有不少工作机会向他招手。希尔斯希望继续在中国生活,希望进一步给汉字字源网站充实内容。
希尔斯的生活看似不稳定,但他却感到做了一件有意义的事情,生活很充实。也许从此之后,他的汉字网站会有新的机会。
很多中国人知道他的名字,甚至知道有汉学家给他取中国名字斯睿德,但绝大多数都称呼他为“汉字叔叔”。也有小孩子叫他“汉字爷爷”。他不太愿意接受这个称呼。“他说,到了90岁时,才会开心地认同别人叫他汉字爷爷”(《中国日报》语)。
(本文照片由作者提供)
Uncle Hanzi and His Chinese Etymology Website
By Chen Yiquan
62-year-old Richard Sears used to be a computer programmer in Tennessee, USA. Over the past 20 years, he has built up his database of ancient Chinese words, i.e. Hanzi, and put them up at his Chinese Etymology website. Chinese netizens were surprised to learn about his enterprise in early 2011,
There are three turning points in Sears’ career of Hanzi.
Nineteen Seventy-two marked the first turning point in Sears’ pursuit of Hanzi. It suddenly occurred to him that English was the mother tongue of only about 7% of the world population. He decided to learn a foreign language and the Chinese language appealed to him. He bought a one-way airline ticket and flew to Taiwan. He learned Chinese by speaking to people. He met his future wife during his stay in the island. It was not until 2 and half a year later that he earned cash enough to buy another one-way ticket and flew back to U.S. Sears studied physics in university and took a graduate course in computer science. After graduation, he worked as a computer programmer. In 1990, he suddenly developed a passion for reading and writing Chinese. He soon ran into huge problems. He realized that there were 5,000 Chinese characters and 60,000 phrases. The characters looked like puzzles. If he could figure out the etymology of these characters, he thought he could manage to know why these strokes were what they were and where they were. However, he failed to find a comprehensive English reference book that could give him much help. He hit upon doing a research project and building up a computerized database of ancient Chinese words.
He soon ran into the second turning point in his pursuit of Hanzi. In 1994, the 44-year-old Sears suffered a heart attack in Taiwan. He was flown back to America. The doctor said he had a year to live. A year before, he had been healthy enough to run marathon. Now he looked at his life and faced death. His choice for the last year of his life was natural. He wanted to computerize his database. He did not have much difficulty designing a computer database for the evolutions of Chinese characters. However, he needed to hire a woman to scan all the ancient words from four classic Chinese books on etymology.
In 2002, he set up the Chinese Etymology website and put the database online. The database looks into evolutions of 6552 most common Chinese characters and gives a list of written images to show how they looked like in ancient times. Sears says that more than 20 people wrote doctoral dissertations based on the Hanzi materials at the website.
In 2008, Sears divorced. He moved into a one-room apartment and continued his pursuit. Some friends thought he was crazy, some thought he wasted time and energy. He was unemployed and did not have a regular income.
The third turning point of his Hanzi career came around in early 2011. Before that time, most of the 30,000 users of his Chinese Etymology were foreigners. A Chinese user reported the website and Sears on his microblog. The report became viral. The next day, the number of users jumped to 60,000 and most of them were Chinese. In 2011, his story appeared in many Chinese newspapers. China Daily, the country’s largest English newspaper, interviewed him in November 2011 and featured a report called “A Character of Characters.” Baidu Encyclopedia, an online information website like wikipedia, now has an entry on him. Though his website became well known, his life did not change very much. He was still unemployed and small cash donations from users of the website were a big source of his daily life.
In May 2012, he came to China and attended an award-issuing ceremony in Tianjin. He decided to stay in Tianjin, a port city south of Beijing. In the following three months, he managed his website and did private teaching. In August, he received a notice asking him to leave China before August 15 because his tourist visa would expire on that day. His dilemma caught the attention of Chinese media and netizens again. Donations flooded in and job offers knocked at his door.
Although he does not have a stable job, Sears thinks he has done a valuable contribution. Probably from now on, his Chinese Etymology website will have a chance to flourish.
Many Chinese people now know about Uncle Hanzi. Some even know his Chinese name 斯睿德. Most refer to him as Uncle Hanzi. Some children call him Grandpa Hanzi. Richard Sears does not think he is old enough for that. He says he would be happy to hear people call him Grandpa Hanzi when he is 90. For now, he is happy with Uncle Hanzi.
关于汉字,希尔斯的一生有三个转折点。
第一个转折点是1972年。当时,22岁的希尔斯有一天突然想到,全世界只有7%的人母语是英语,便萌发了要学一门外语的念头。他决定学习与英语有天壤之别的中文。他买了一张单程机票到了台北,到处找人说话学说汉语。在此期间,他认识了一位台湾女子,后来成为他的妻子。希尔斯学会说中国话,但是读写进步却不大。过了两年半,他赚到了机票钱才回美国。
希尔斯在大学本科专业是物理学,研究生读的是计算机科学,后来做了计算机程序员。到了1990年,他有了研究汉字演化的激情。原来,他觉得读写中文非常困难,汉字5000个,词语60000个,却毫无规律可言。他设想,如果理解了汉字从古到今的演变过程,就容易了解掌握。不过,他找不到得心应手的工具书:有解释汉字字源的英文书,但不够清楚、全面;关于汉字字源的中文书很多,也有不错的权威著作,只是没有英文解释。他想动手搞一个研究项目来解决:将所有汉字字源都包括进来,用英语解释,这样,学习中文就会容易得多。于是,他开始着手准备。
第二个转折点是1994年。年仅44岁的希尔斯在台湾突发心脏病,回美国诊断,医生说他的生命只剩一年。他的心脏安了支架,做了搭桥手术。这一场大病彻底改变了他的人生。前一年,他还健壮得可以跑马拉松,现在却要面对死亡。希尔斯决定立即动手建立一个可以用计算机检索的古汉字字库。
此前,希尔斯已经收集了相当的资料,建立一个古汉字字库的计算机程序难不倒作为电脑程序员的他,但要将这些汉字的演变统统输入进去,却必须靠手工。在身体转好不久,他请人扫描了《说文解字》《金文编》《甲骨文编》和《六书通》上所有的字源。这些书都是他从中国买回来的。
买书、去中国回美国、扫描工费、建网站,都要花钱。多年下来,他算算总共花了大约30万美元。
2002年,互联网飞速发展,他建成了汉语字源网站,把整理出来的古汉字数据库在网上公开,免费让公众使用。
在这个叫做“汉字字源”的网站里,希尔斯对6552个最常用的现代汉字进行了字源分析,其中收集编列超过96000个古代汉字字形、31876个甲骨文、24223个金文以及秦汉的11109个大篆书、596个小篆体。希尔斯不仅给每个现代汉字都做了英文释义,还列出了部分普通话、台语、粤语和上海方言的语音数据库,输入任何单一的汉字,就可以查到该字简单的英文释义、简繁体表示、Unicode码、声部、意部的表示以及该字来源等,人们几乎可以查到每一个汉字的演变过程。
2008年,希尔斯离了婚,搬进只有一间房的公寓。他继续干他赔钱的事业。有些朋友觉得他疯了,觉得他纯粹是在浪费钱,或者干脆认为他是在浪费生命。
希尔斯人生中的第三个转折点发生在2011年。之前,他的网站大约有13000个用户,绝大多数是外国人。希尔斯说,有不少人用他的网上资料写博士论文,他所知道的就不下20个。这一年初,网友在新浪微博里报告了希尔斯的汉字网站,用户数立即激增到60000人,其中绝大多数是中国人。接着,很多中国媒体报道了他的情况,最大的英文报纸《中国日报》也对外报道了“汉字叔叔”。百度百科中有关于他的词条。
尽管希尔斯的网站在中国引起了注意,但他依然是一个失业者,依然孑然一身,依然生活窘迫。最困难的时候,他甚至不能负担服务器每年47美元的租赁费。后来,希尔斯在网站上挂出自己在Paypal和支付宝的账户,依靠别人的捐款以维持网站并帮补生活。但捐款十分不稳定。
2012年5月,希尔斯受邀来中国天津参加“中国因你更美丽”颁奖盛典。他决定留下,并在天津近郊租了一套小居室。除了睡觉,希尔斯每天要花三分之一的时间对网站的资料库进行维护,其他时候,他的生活内容,一是继续研究中国汉字以及其他文化,二是给中学生辅导英语口语,这也是他目前唯一的生活经济来源。他的境遇再次引起中国网民和媒体的关注。这一次,他不仅收到了不少捐款,还有不少工作机会向他招手。希尔斯希望继续在中国生活,希望进一步给汉字字源网站充实内容。
希尔斯的生活看似不稳定,但他却感到做了一件有意义的事情,生活很充实。也许从此之后,他的汉字网站会有新的机会。
很多中国人知道他的名字,甚至知道有汉学家给他取中国名字斯睿德,但绝大多数都称呼他为“汉字叔叔”。也有小孩子叫他“汉字爷爷”。他不太愿意接受这个称呼。“他说,到了90岁时,才会开心地认同别人叫他汉字爷爷”(《中国日报》语)。
(本文照片由作者提供)
Uncle Hanzi and His Chinese Etymology Website
By Chen Yiquan
62-year-old Richard Sears used to be a computer programmer in Tennessee, USA. Over the past 20 years, he has built up his database of ancient Chinese words, i.e. Hanzi, and put them up at his Chinese Etymology website. Chinese netizens were surprised to learn about his enterprise in early 2011,
There are three turning points in Sears’ career of Hanzi.
Nineteen Seventy-two marked the first turning point in Sears’ pursuit of Hanzi. It suddenly occurred to him that English was the mother tongue of only about 7% of the world population. He decided to learn a foreign language and the Chinese language appealed to him. He bought a one-way airline ticket and flew to Taiwan. He learned Chinese by speaking to people. He met his future wife during his stay in the island. It was not until 2 and half a year later that he earned cash enough to buy another one-way ticket and flew back to U.S. Sears studied physics in university and took a graduate course in computer science. After graduation, he worked as a computer programmer. In 1990, he suddenly developed a passion for reading and writing Chinese. He soon ran into huge problems. He realized that there were 5,000 Chinese characters and 60,000 phrases. The characters looked like puzzles. If he could figure out the etymology of these characters, he thought he could manage to know why these strokes were what they were and where they were. However, he failed to find a comprehensive English reference book that could give him much help. He hit upon doing a research project and building up a computerized database of ancient Chinese words.
He soon ran into the second turning point in his pursuit of Hanzi. In 1994, the 44-year-old Sears suffered a heart attack in Taiwan. He was flown back to America. The doctor said he had a year to live. A year before, he had been healthy enough to run marathon. Now he looked at his life and faced death. His choice for the last year of his life was natural. He wanted to computerize his database. He did not have much difficulty designing a computer database for the evolutions of Chinese characters. However, he needed to hire a woman to scan all the ancient words from four classic Chinese books on etymology.
In 2002, he set up the Chinese Etymology website and put the database online. The database looks into evolutions of 6552 most common Chinese characters and gives a list of written images to show how they looked like in ancient times. Sears says that more than 20 people wrote doctoral dissertations based on the Hanzi materials at the website.
In 2008, Sears divorced. He moved into a one-room apartment and continued his pursuit. Some friends thought he was crazy, some thought he wasted time and energy. He was unemployed and did not have a regular income.
The third turning point of his Hanzi career came around in early 2011. Before that time, most of the 30,000 users of his Chinese Etymology were foreigners. A Chinese user reported the website and Sears on his microblog. The report became viral. The next day, the number of users jumped to 60,000 and most of them were Chinese. In 2011, his story appeared in many Chinese newspapers. China Daily, the country’s largest English newspaper, interviewed him in November 2011 and featured a report called “A Character of Characters.” Baidu Encyclopedia, an online information website like wikipedia, now has an entry on him. Though his website became well known, his life did not change very much. He was still unemployed and small cash donations from users of the website were a big source of his daily life.
In May 2012, he came to China and attended an award-issuing ceremony in Tianjin. He decided to stay in Tianjin, a port city south of Beijing. In the following three months, he managed his website and did private teaching. In August, he received a notice asking him to leave China before August 15 because his tourist visa would expire on that day. His dilemma caught the attention of Chinese media and netizens again. Donations flooded in and job offers knocked at his door.
Although he does not have a stable job, Sears thinks he has done a valuable contribution. Probably from now on, his Chinese Etymology website will have a chance to flourish.
Many Chinese people now know about Uncle Hanzi. Some even know his Chinese name 斯睿德. Most refer to him as Uncle Hanzi. Some children call him Grandpa Hanzi. Richard Sears does not think he is old enough for that. He says he would be happy to hear people call him Grandpa Hanzi when he is 90. For now, he is happy with Uncle Hanzi.