II. Appendix II: Character Count in the San guo
zhi and Its Commentary
The idea that Pei Songzhi's commentary is longer than Chen Shou's San
guo zhi proper has been around at least since Song times. Only recently
has this notion been challenged. Because of competing claims, it seemed
wise to check the figures.
Methodology
The total number of characters (including bracketed variants) in an
electronic text of the Zhonghua shuju redaction of the San guo zhi and
Pei's commentary was counted. After finding the total, Chen Shou's text
and Pei's commentary were separated into two files. Each file was then
separately counted.
Results
| TEXT |
TOTAL GRAPHS |
PUNCTUATION |
NET GRAPHS |
| Zhonghua (all) |
835,629 |
148,586 |
687,043 |
| Chen Shou |
441,865 |
77,764 |
364,101 |
| Pei Songzhi |
393,764 |
70,822 |
322,942 |
| Total Chen + Pei |
835,629 |
148,586 |
687,043 |
Thus the reputed 3:1 ratio of Pei to Chen is inaccurate. Chen Shou's
text is some 40,000 characters longer than Pei's commentary. There
may be some error in this count, but the figures are close and fairly
represent the general ratio of text to commentary. (See also Cui, "San
guo zhi benwen queshi duo yu Pei zhu;" Sgz jiaogu, 300-302; Cao,
"Qianyan," 15-16. Our count is virtually the same as Cui's.)
