According to the recorded data, there are more than 100,000 kinds of ancient books in China. However, for a long time, in the research field of ancient books in China, due to the double-byte coding technology adopted by computers, many rare words and ancient characters cannot be displayed and edited on the computer platform.
Therefore, a large number of ancient books cannot be truly digitized, which hinders the research and dissemination of China culture.
At present, this situation is improving. According to Social Science Literature Publishing House, the database of Shuowen Jiezi with four-byte processing technology will solve the problems of inputting and editing more than 70,000 Chinese characters, as well as the query management of the whole literature. The publication of this book marks that the ancient books that could not be published normally due to a large number of uncommon words in the past will regain their publishing life, and the "hard ice" that ancient Chinese characters could not be edited for a long time will also be broken.
It is reported that the four-byte processing technology used in the book and database of Shuo Wen Jie Zi has been patented. At the same time, the publisher revealed that the preparation for the publication of a similar book and database, Kangxi Dictionary, is nearing completion. Experts in literature and history believe that with the publication of Shuowen Jiezi Database as an opportunity, the study of ancient books in China will enter a new digital era.