A Textual Research on Chinese Popular Characters, centering Hanyu Da Zidian and Zhonghua Zihai, makes a comprehensive study on the figuration, phonetic notation and textual criticism and explanation of the popular terms listed in character books in all ages. 3,274 difficult popular characters are researched on (There are 3,500 difficult Chinese characters altogether since some are listed not as separate entries, but as subsidiary ones). In this way, many errors in distinguishing Chinese characters are rectified, many characters ambiguous in phonetics and meanings are given correct characters and the relationship between popular characters and correct terms are sorted out. It won The Second Prize in Linguistics of Excellent Achievements Awards of the 3rd Research on Humanities and Social Sciences of Chinese Institutions of Higher Learning.
