漢字叔叔和他的漢字研究

張慈

美國(guó)硅谷有很多傳奇的故事，現(xiàn)在紅遍中國(guó)大江南北的漢字叔叔，也是曾經(jīng)的硅谷工程師。我們投拍的《硅谷中國(guó)人》紀(jì)錄片，也是因?yàn)槲覀冋J(rèn)為漢字叔叔是名副其實(shí)的中華文化傳播者，所以把他歸納到了這個(gè)紀(jì)錄片中去。雖然他是藍(lán)眼睛高鼻子，但實(shí)際上他比大多數(shù)中國(guó)人都懂得漢字及漢字歷史。

一

2002年的硅谷，有一條非常繁華的街，那就是山景城的卡斯特羅街。當(dāng)時(shí)的Palo Alto的大學(xué)街冷冷清清，科技文化在1995年的經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條后，尚未在這個(gè)后來(lái)的“宇宙中心”恢復(fù)元?dú)?。而卡斯特羅街卻是人山人海，白天晚上都有工程師和創(chuàng)業(yè)者在那里吃飯喝酒，甚至在咖啡館開(kāi)會(huì)。那個(gè)時(shí)候我常常帶著我的兩個(gè)女兒去一家臺(tái)灣人開(kāi)的、叫“元寶之家”去吃牛肉面。我和漢字叔叔就是在這個(gè)店里認(rèn)識(shí)的，但我對(duì)當(dāng)時(shí)對(duì)話并沒(méi)有任何印象，只記得他說(shuō)自己來(lái)自俄勒岡州的梅德福（Medford）小鎮(zhèn)，那個(gè)鎮(zhèn)有很多微型啤酒廠，還有一個(gè)1910年成立的全球最大的美食郵購(gòu)公司 Harry & David。漢字叔叔叫理查德 · 西爾斯 （Richard Sears）， 在一個(gè)高科技公司當(dāng)工程師。后來(lái)他的太太從臺(tái)灣來(lái)看他，我請(qǐng)他們?cè)诩依锍燥垺Ｕ勗掗g可以聽(tīng)出，太太并不能理解理查德這種把錢都花在漢字研究上的執(zhí)著。他有個(gè)網(wǎng)站，將漢字電腦系統(tǒng)化，他把工資和時(shí)間都投在了這個(gè)網(wǎng)站上。他們后來(lái)離婚了，我覺(jué)得她無(wú)法理解他的志向和興趣，他也無(wú)法滿足她過(guò)正常生活的愿望。

有一次我?guī)Ц赣H和兩個(gè)女兒去舊金山金門公園植物園，漢字叔叔也去了，他用漢語(yǔ)給我父親講那些奇花異草，他知識(shí)浩瀚，尤其是對(duì)漢字的精通，令我們十分佩服。一轉(zhuǎn)眼許多年過(guò)去了，漢字叔叔從我們的生活中消失，我的孩子們都長(zhǎng)大了。直到有一天，看到一篇報(bào)道他的文章出現(xiàn)在《世界日?qǐng)?bào)》上。

報(bào)紙刊登了一張黑白照片，那是童年的漢字叔叔與父母兄長(zhǎng)站在一起。照片上那個(gè)抱著橄欖球、可愛(ài)地咧著嘴笑的白人小孩，誰(shuí)能猜想到他一生的命運(yùn)如此坎坷多舛？他一直在美國(guó)東部過(guò)著漂泊無(wú)居的生活，一邊工作一邊繼續(xù)研究漢字的發(fā)展模式，傾囊建立了“Chinese Etymology字源”網(wǎng)站。

二

在意識(shí)到世界上只有7%的人將英語(yǔ)作為母語(yǔ)來(lái)使用，而有20%的人說(shuō)漢語(yǔ)后，1972年，22歲的理查德 · 西爾斯決定買一張單程飛機(jī)票飛到臺(tái)灣學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)。

他當(dāng)時(shí)一句漢語(yǔ)都不會(huì)說(shuō)，身上也僅剩80美金。他找了份教英語(yǔ)的工作維持生計(jì)，并在幾年間學(xué)會(huì)了一些漢語(yǔ)。

之后又返回美國(guó)讀書、工作，但是他的生活總是與中國(guó)有著千絲萬(wàn)縷的關(guān)系。在40歲那年，理查德還未學(xué)會(huì)讀寫漢字，他決心在死之前一定要掌握漢字的認(rèn)讀。但是，有一個(gè)問(wèn)題是，他不太喜歡在不了解每個(gè)漢字背后邏輯的情況下死記硬背漢字。

有一天，他忽然認(rèn)識(shí)到中國(guó)漢字起源于象形文字，但是要從書上看到的象形文字的字源實(shí)屬不易，而且常常有錯(cuò)。他決定用自己的力量將古代漢字電腦化，為的是將錯(cuò)誤的漢字的故事剔除，給公眾看漢字背后真正的故事。

1994年，他經(jīng)歷了一次致命的心臟病，他知道這是最后一次機(jī)會(huì)了，還剩一年光陰的話，一定要電腦化《說(shuō)文解字》。一年之后，他仍然活著，于是，他在之后的25年里繼續(xù)收集整理共九萬(wàn)六千多個(gè)古漢字的字形，放到他的網(wǎng)站上，包括甲骨文、金文、小篆，并且一直在做常見(jiàn)的一萬(wàn)三千多個(gè)簡(jiǎn)化字和繁體字背后的發(fā)展演變軌跡的獨(dú)立研究。

2002年，也就是我們此前見(jiàn)到他最后一面的那年，美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)使他失去了硅谷的工作，而后他尋到了一份河道管理員的工作。2007年，他徹底失業(yè)，再也無(wú)力支付助理薪酬。即使這樣，為了保持他創(chuàng)辦的漢字研究網(wǎng)站的純粹，他拒絕接受商業(yè)廣告的入駐。他在網(wǎng)站開(kāi)通了捐贈(zèng)功能，“我從1994年開(kāi)始自費(fèi)研究古漢字。請(qǐng)求援助捐款，我才可以繼續(xù)漢字研究，持續(xù)免費(fèi)提供這些內(nèi)容，并且沒(méi)有廣告干擾?！比欢?，這一年只收到50美元的捐款，這點(diǎn)錢根本就是個(gè)玩笑，哪里會(huì)夠維持網(wǎng)站的運(yùn)營(yíng)呢？

于是，他決定前往中國(guó)大陸尋找?guī)椭?/p>

2011年的某一天，一位中國(guó)網(wǎng)友發(fā)現(xiàn)了他的網(wǎng)站，忍不住發(fā)了一條這樣的微博：“這個(gè)人叫理查德 · 西爾斯，他用20年的工夫（1991—2011）手工將中國(guó)甲骨文、金文、小篆等字形數(shù)字化處理，并上傳網(wǎng)絡(luò)，供所有人免費(fèi)使用?！苯酉聛?lái)的一個(gè)月，這條微博被不斷轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)，他被中國(guó)的網(wǎng)友們親切地稱為“漢字叔叔”，網(wǎng)站點(diǎn)擊量達(dá)到了60萬(wàn)。那時(shí)的他還在美國(guó)過(guò)著簡(jiǎn)樸潦倒的生活。自從中國(guó)人發(fā)現(xiàn)了他，他才引起了極大關(guān)注，“漢字叔叔”的名號(hào)不脛而走。理查德受邀到中國(guó)研究古代漢字，并在北京師范大學(xué)教授物理。2011年以來(lái)，“漢字叔叔”在中國(guó)的知名度與日俱增，媒體曝光量也隨之大幅增長(zhǎng)。時(shí)至今日，他的網(wǎng)站仍是在華外國(guó)人學(xué)習(xí)漢字的主要平臺(tái)。

三

2021年9月，我接到漢字叔叔的邀請(qǐng)，他的工作室將在南京揭牌。以下是邀請(qǐng)函的部分內(nèi)容：經(jīng)溝通匯報(bào)，專家組評(píng)審，南京市委宣傳部于近日批復(fù)，同意設(shè)立“漢字叔叔工作室”作為“南京市文化名家工作室”，依據(jù)《南京市文化人才工作室引進(jìn)管理細(xì)則》運(yùn)作管理，茲定于 2021 年 9 月 17 日 15 時(shí)在南京海智灣·紫東國(guó)際人才街區(qū)舉行“漢字叔叔工作室”揭牌儀式，屆時(shí)將有多位政府領(lǐng)導(dǎo)、行業(yè)專家、知名文化企業(yè)代表以及新聞媒體朋友參加。謹(jǐn)此，感謝您多年來(lái)對(duì)漢字叔叔研究工作的關(guān)心與支持，誠(chéng)摯地 邀請(qǐng)您撥冗出席揭牌儀式活動(dòng)，共同見(jiàn)證這一難忘時(shí)刻！活動(dòng)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)設(shè)置了漢字叔叔工作與作品展示區(qū)，并采用了AR等科技手段進(jìn)行了現(xiàn)實(shí)增強(qiáng)，歡迎您參觀體驗(yàn)與現(xiàn)場(chǎng)指導(dǎo)。希望今后您能繼續(xù)關(guān)注支持漢字叔叔的相關(guān)工作！

我請(qǐng)國(guó)內(nèi)的朋友送去了三個(gè)高達(dá)1.8米的花籃，并請(qǐng)浙江的書法家朋友為漢字叔叔書寫了“星漢璀璨”的匾牌。

至今，由漢字叔叔理查德 · 西爾斯創(chuàng)建的漢字字源網(wǎng)站是世界上最大的免費(fèi)漢字字源庫(kù)，全球的月訪問(wèn)量達(dá)100多萬(wàn)次，用戶遍及世界170多個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)。2020年，“漢字叔叔”拿到了“中國(guó)綠卡”，打贏了侵權(quán)官司，創(chuàng)業(yè)的產(chǎn)品也陸續(xù)上市……到中國(guó)近10年，輾轉(zhuǎn)不同的城市，總是漂泊的“漢字叔叔”終于有了“家”。這一次，他說(shuō)：“不想走了?！?/p>

南京工作室的揭牌，使?jié)h字叔叔在南京有了家，還養(yǎng)了一條叫晃晃的狗，有一個(gè)叫李子的助理。閑暇時(shí)，他會(huì)出門和陌生人聊天，和鄰居相處時(shí)間長(zhǎng)了，生活里有了很多滋味?！昂芏嗄昵埃业竭^(guò)南京，現(xiàn)在想起來(lái)已經(jīng)沒(méi)有什么印象了?！睗h字叔叔說(shuō)，如今自己想留下來(lái)，不走了，做一個(gè)南京人。

祝71歲的漢字叔叔晚年對(duì)漢字的研究更加順利，在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上建立的漢字網(wǎng)絡(luò)數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)系統(tǒng)如星河璀璨。

Uncle Hanzi and His Hanzi Research

By? Zhang Ci

There are many legendary stories in Silicon Valley in US. Uncle Hanzis story is one of them. The documentary film Chinese in Silicon Valley we made also has Uncle Hanzi in it. Although he has blue eyes， he actually knows Chinese characters and their history better than most Chinese people.

Castro Street in Mountain View was very prosperous in Silicon Valley in 2002. Lots of engineers and entrepreneurs went there eating， drinking or having business meetings in the café day and night. It was in a restaurant called Yuanbao House on the street， I first met Uncle Hanzi， aka Richard Sears. Coming from Oregon， he worked in a high-tech company as an engineer. But he had a great passion for Chinese language. He almost spent all his spare time and money researching Chinese characters and attempting to computerize them. I guess thats the reason for his divorce since her wife couldnt understand his aspirations and he couldnt fulfill her desire to live a normal life.

Once my family went to the Golden Gate Park Botanical Garden in San Francisco with Uncle Hanzi. He introduced those strange flowers and plants in Chinese to us. We were so impressed with him， especially of his propound knowledge of Chinese characters.

Then Uncle Hanzi disappeared from our lives for years till we saw an article about him in World Daily. He has been roving in the East of US these years， working， researching on the evolution of Chinese characters and running a website called “Chinese Etymology” with all his efforts. To trace the etymology of Chinese characters is definitely a state level project. You cannot imagine that an American is willingly to spend all his money and time doing this throughout his lifetime， which， to be honest， should be done by the Chinese people.

In 2017， I met Uncle Hanzi again in Shanghai and learnt about his experience during those years. In 2002， he lost his job in Silicon Valley due to economic crisis and lived a very tight life. Despite all his personal difficulties， he didnt stop his research on Chinese characters nor did he accept any commercial advertising on his website. He attempted to find contributions， but failed. Thats why he finally decided to came to China for support later.

Back in 1972， Sears was determined to learn Chinese and bought a one-way air ticket to Taiwan. He couldnt even say a word of Chinese at that time and whats even worse was he got only 80 US dollars left. He found a job there while learning Chinese and returned to US later. In 1994， he got a severe heart attack， which made him decided that if he had only one year left， what he most wanted to do was to computerize all the ancient Chinese characters from Shuowen Jiezi （literally “discussing writing and explaining characters”）， a dictionary dated to the Eastern Han dynasty （25-220）. Then in the following 25 years， he collected over 96，000 ancient Chinese characters and built up the data base.

In 2011， Sears became famous overnight on Chinese social media after a Chinese blogger wrote a post about his Chinese etymology website. Amazed with his two decades of effort researching Chinese characters， Chinese netizens gave him an affectionate nickname Uncle Hanzi （Hanzi Iiterally means “Chinese characters”）. He was invited to continue the research and taught physics in Beijing Normal University. Since then， Uncle Hanzi has developed a growing influence across China and got more and more attention from public media. Till now Chinese etymology is still the most popular website for foreigners to learn Chinese characters.

In September 2021， I got an invitation from Uncle Hanzi to attend the opening ceremony of his studio in Nanjing. I asked my friends home to send three flower baskets up to 1.8 meters and asked my calligrapher friends in Zhejiang to write a plaque of “Xinghan Cuican” （literally “a sea of bright stars） for Uncle Hanzi to celebrate the milestone.

Now “Chinese Etymology” has become the biggest free data base of Chinese characters， with over one million monthly visits and users hail from 170 different countries and regions across the globe. After staying for a decade in China， Uncle Hanzi finally obtained the green card in 2020. And he said he did not want to move any more this time： his studio has become his new home and China has become a new home.