Mao Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Hand (shǒu) Page 457, Entry 02 Pronounced lian (rising tone). According to the Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen), it means to cup the hands together. Pronounced jian (rising tone). It means to bundle or to restrain. In the Biography of Wang Ba in the History of the Former Han (Qianhan Shu), it is written that county affairs were all restrained and modeled by righteousness and law. The commentary states that jian means to restrict. According to the Er Ya, Explanation of Words (Er Ya, Shiyan), jian means the same. The commentary states that jian refers to a model or mold from which everything produced must be identical. It also means to inspect, to patrol, to compare, or to raise up. In the Biography of Zhou Yi in the Book of Jin (Jin Shu), Wang Dao reviewed and inspected the historical records of the Central Secretariat and saw Zhou Yi's memorial pleading for his life. It also appears in the title of a government office. According to the Treatise on Officials in the History of the Tang (Tang Shu, Baiguan Zhi), in the sixth year of the Kaiyuan era, the Lizheng Institute for the Compilation of Books appointed commissioners and inspecting officials. Note that the two characters jian-jiao are written with the hand radical. The Rhyme Dictionary of the Expanded Language (Guangyun) only records the form written with the tree radical, treating the form with the hand radical as a common variant.