“CHANT (CHinese ANcient Texts): A Comprehensive Dattabase of all Ancient Chinese Texts up to 600 AD” article written by Che Wah Ho describes the transfer of text from centuries of Chinese history into an electronic database. The Institiute of Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong began the project in 1988 of pre-220 AD traditional Chinese texts. Since then, many more ancient texts have been added to span from 1500 BC to 600 AD. The CHANT Database is divided into five components to allow easy navigation through the texts: (1) pre-220 AD (the Pre-Han and Han period ) traditional texts, (2) 220 – 581 AD (the Weijin period) traditional texts, (3) excavated texts on wood/bamboo strips and silk (Jianbo), (4) excavated oracular inscriptions on tortoise shells and bones (Jiaguwen), (5) traditional as well as excavated bronze inscriptions (Jinwen). This database was designed in order to allow free and easy access to traditional Chinese texts throughout the world. It could be used as a record of history as well as a educational tool for coming generations. The problems that they encountered in the transfering of texts slowed to production slightly. The transferring of excavated materials were time consuming and required particular tools which we of minimal disposal. Also, with texts so old, the language had varied since its original publishing. Words such as hai (jeopardize) was though to have been rou (covets its meat), which can change the entire meaning of a message. Because of the various amount of material, and various versions, there was difficulty in finding a database which could sufficiently hold that much information. This caused many transfers of the texts to various database in order to compensate for the volume. By transferring such information into an electronic database provides easy access and organization of China’s historical text. And because the database could be a more frequently used encyclopedia, it maintains the original artifacts from too much handling. Because it is an unaltered collection of texts, the spread of the information is able to accessed and understood around the world, with no biased perspective by either a modern native or outsider to the culture.
