Mao Collection, Middle Volume. Radical: Hand (shǒu). 8 strokes. Page 420, Entry 07. Pronounced bian (falling tone). To clap hands. Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), Commentary on the Annals of Emperor Wen: The crowd capable of speech, all clapped their hands and danced. Songs of the South (Chuci), Heavenly Questions: The giant turtle carries the great mountain on its head while clapping, how can it be made stable? Commentary: Striking with the hands is called bian. Book of Music (Yuelüshu): Emperor Ku commanded musicians to compose the Tang songs, which included the action of bian as a rhythmic beat. Commentary: Striking the two hands against each other. Currently, the Kucha musicians use finger-snapping as a rhythmic beat for song and dance, which is also a refined manifestation of bian. Also pronounced bian (falling tone). Meaning is the same. In the Explaining Characters (Shuowen), it was originally written with a different character. In ancient times, it was borrowed to be written as bian. It is also used interchangeably with bian. Also pronounced fan (rising tone). Lian-bian describes a twisting and turning appearance. Identical to the character fan.