Xu Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Metal (jīn)
Zheng
Kangxi strokes: 16
Page 1310, Entry 16
Tang Dynasty Rhymes (Tangyun): Pronounced zheng. Collected Rhymes (Jiyun): Pronounced zheng. From Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi): The sound of metal. From Pan Yue, Rhapsody on Plowing the Imperial Field (Jitian Fu): The metal ornaments clashed and chimed. From History of the Later Han (Hou Hanshu), Biography of Liu Penzi: Emperor Guangwu said, You are what is called the clashing metal among the iron. It also means a gong. From Records of the Eastern Han (Dongguan Hanji): When Duan Jiong returned with achievements, armored soldiers beat drums and played gongs. Ma Duanlin states: Zheng is the same as the gong described in Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters, circular in shape like a copper gong.
Also in Broad Rhymes (Guangyun): Pronounced cheng. Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) and Rhyme Anthology (Yunhui): Pronounced cheng. Correct Rhymes (Zhengyun): Pronounced cheng. The meaning is the same.
Also rhyming as qiang. From Zhang Ji, Poem in Memory of Han Yu: In an instant ten thousand affairs end, feelings are stirred and deeply wounded. In the old cemetery north of Mengjin, the wild burial is moved by the beating of gongs. Collected Rhymes (Jiyun): Sometimes written in a variant form (zheng).
Textual verification: From Records of the Eastern Han (Dongguan Hanji), it mentions Duan Ying returned with achievements, armored soldiers beat drums and played gongs. Corrected according to the History of the Later Han (Hou Hanshu) where it is written as Duan Jiong.