Hai Collection, Lower Volume Radical: Rat (shǔ) 鼦 Kangxi stroke count: 18 Page 1528, Entry 04 Jade Chapters (Yupian): This is an ancient form of the character for sable (diāo). Materia Medica (Bencao): This species of rat likes to eat chestnuts and pine bark, so people call it the chestnut rat. Its fur, when brushed against the cheeks, feels as warm as fire. In the north, when the cold winds are bitter, people use its skin to warm their foreheads. Later generations followed this custom, using gold ornaments worn on the front of the head adorned with sable tails, a practice that continued into the Han dynasty. Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), Biographies of the Money-makers (Huozhi Zhuan): There are thousands of fur coats made from fox and sable skins. Yangzi's Great Profound Classic (Taixuanjing): The fur of the fox and the sable is the animal's own calamity. Note: In the Jade Chapters (Yupian), this character is composed of the Rat (shǔ) radical and the component (zhào). The Compendium of Characters (Zihui) also writes it with (zhào). The Correct Meaning Through-going (Zhengzitong) erroneously writes it with (zhān), yet provides the same definition as this character, failing to realize that the form with (zhān) is actually a different character. This is an error resulting from the transmission and transcription of texts; it is now corrected in accordance with the Jade Chapters (Yupian).