Wu Collection, Lower Volume Radical: Spirit (shì) Character: Shi Kangxi Strokes: 10 Page 841, Entry 04 Tang Rhymes (Tangyun), Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), Zheng Rhymes (Zhengyun): Pronounced shi. Rhyme Compilation (Yunhui): Pronounced shi. The pronunciation is the same as the word for stone. It refers to a stone chamber in an ancestral temple used to house spirit tablets. Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan), 14th Year of Duke Zhuang: Command my ancestor to oversee the stone chamber of the ancestral temple where the spirit tablets are stored. Commentary: To guard against accidental fires, a stone chamber was built within the northern wall of the ancestral temple to store wooden spirit tablets. They were removed during sacrificial rites and returned to the stone chamber once the ceremonies concluded. The character shi falls under the Spirit radical, indicating it is treated with the reverence due to a deity. Explication of Writing and Explanation of Characters (Shuowen Jiezi): The Rites of Zhou (Zhouli) records stone chambers used for suburban and ancestral temple sacrifices. Another interpretation suggests that grand masters fashioned their spirit tablets out of stone. Textual Research: In the Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan), 14th Year of Duke Zhuang, it is written: Command my ancestor to oversee the stone chamber. Note: In the original text, the word oversee is changed to manage.