cals not only serve as the indexing tool but also are the com- 汉 mon semantic symbols of one series of characters.So in the 字 book we emphasize on both the analysis of radicals and the 的 governing function of the radicals on certain group of charac- 世 界 ters,to help the readers to draw inferences from onc instance and have a systematic understanding of Chinese characters. 导 诗 Structural Analysis Unlike alphabetical lctters,Chinese characters arc charac- terized by its ideograph featurc.The so-called ideographs are those that can reveal the meaning of characters by their graph- ic formations.The graphic formations are known as "struc- tures” pictographic,indicative.associative and picto-pho- netic structures.As different structures reveal the meanings differently,we analyzed the structures of all characters dis- cussed in this book to facilitate the understanding. Origin Pursuit Chinese characters are abundant in meanings and most characters are polysemic.Unlike other languages,Chinese characters have no formal variations (such as gender.number, and case)to discriminate among different meanings one char- acter has,which makes it more difficult to recognize and mem- orize.On the other hand,many meanings of one character of- ten have logical interrelations.()nce these interrelations are comprehended,the complicated meanings of characters are easy to understand.Therefore.we pursue the origin of pol- ysemic charactcrs and reveal the process of their evolution, 4 which,we believe,will be of great help to the readers in their