Chen Collection, Middle Volume
Radical: Wood (mù)
杠
Kangxi Stroke Count: 7
Page 512, Entry 13
Pronounced jiāng.
Shuowen Jiezi (Dictionary of Explaining and Analyzing Characters): A horizontal wooden bar in front of a bed.
Xu Kai says: People today call this a bed rail.
Jijiupian (Emergency Curriculum): Wives and concubines are gifted dowry servants, and slaves and private retainers use pillows, beds, and bars.
Fangyan (Regional Speech): Between the regions of Qin and Jin, it is called a gang.
It also refers to the pole of a banner or flag.
Erya (Approaching Elegance), Explaining the Heavens: A plain silk-wrapped pole (gang).
Commentary: Refers to a flag pole wrapped in white damask silk.
Guangya (Broad Elegance): The flag pole of the Emperor is nine ren in height, that of the feudal lords is seven ren, and that of the grand officers is five ren.
It also refers to the pole used for a funeral banner (mingjing).
Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial (Yili), Rites for a Scholar's Funeral: A bamboo pole (gang) measuring three feet long.
It also refers to a small bridge called a gang.
Mencius: A footbridge constructed for travel.
Also, Boya (Broad Elegance): Gang means to lift.
Also, the name of a constellation.
Book of Jin (Jinshu), Treatise on Astronomy: Nine stars above the Great Emperor are called the Magnificent Canopy, and nine stars below are called the Gang, which acts as the handle for the Magnificent Canopy.
Also, pronounced gōng.
A place name.
Book of Han (Hanshu), Biography of Cao Can: Attacked Gangli and defeated the enemy army.
Note: The Tangyun (Tang Rhymes) states the pronunciation of gang is gong, which is the archaic pronunciation. The Zihui (Compendium of Characters) records it as a rhyming variant, which is incorrect.
Textual Research:
Jijiupian: Wives and concubines are gifted dowry servants, and slaves and private retainers use pillows, beds, and bars. (Following the original text, the character for male servant has been corrected to female servant.)
Erya, Explaining the Heavens: A plain silk-wrapped pole (gang). (According to the citation from Erya, Explaining the Heavens, the original reference to "Discussing Martial Arts" has been corrected to "Explaining the Heavens," and "cotton" has been corrected to "damask silk.")
