telegraphic codes and message practice
scanned code directory
The China Republican Telegraphic Code (1915)
The China Republican Telegraphic Code is conceived along the lines of a standard telegraphic code of its time — with phrases arranged under topical headings, those headings themselves arranged arbitrarily. This code does not, that is to say, follow the convention of one (Chinese) character per number.
My separate discussion of Chinese telegraphic codes, in the context of Escayrac de Lauture’s publications of the 1860s, can be found here. Also see Satoshi Tomokiyo his Chinese Telegraph Code (CTC), or A Brief History of Chinese Character Code (CCC) here, which is an abridgment of his survey (in Japanese) here. (29 August 2014)
| 1915 | The China Republican Telegraphic Code 親民電報彙編 (Qin min dian bao hui bian) | Compiled and Published by Hsin-Min Telegraphic Code Company / Shanghai, China | private collection | |
| 7.5 inches wide, 10.5 inches tall (16 unnumbered front matter pages), 1-736, followed by colophon. |
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contents
Table of contents / 目錄
list
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Main headings above are Postal Electric, Miltary,
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| Pages 114-115, The China Republican Telegraphic Code (1915) | |
I will present all prefatory material in black and white scans, minus margins and gutters, for reference.
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| Explanation of usage, rearranged, from unnumbered pages (13, 14), The China Republican Telegraphic Code (1915) | |
Incorporated within the code is the standard Chinese charactertelegraph code, wherein each character is assigned its telegraphic number. Shown below are the first and last pages of that section (pp 539-606), beginning with 82817 / fusuf for character No. 1 (meaning one
) and concluding with 87178 / giafo for character No. 8759 (meaning to spread
); I do not (yet) understand the several entries that are not in serial order (on this and preceding pages).
There follows a sequence of 5L codewords for the 26 letters of the standard roman alphabet.
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| Pages 539 and 606 (NOT spread), The China Republican Telegraphic Code (1915) | |