Waiguo Huaben: 1921 Chinese-Mongolian Trade Glossary and Phrasebook

155 records from a 1921 manuscript phrasebook compiled by Shanxi merchants for frontier commerce. The dataset treats Chinese-character transcriptions as a system of graph choice and manuscript-internal organisation. The lexical content is organised around domains including quantities and money, trade goods, mobility, basic needs, and negotiation routines.

Use Cases

• Analyze graph selection patterns for segmentation and recognition cues based on position-sensitive regularities mentioned in the description.
• Study lexical domains of trade-mediated interaction based on the described categories of quantities, goods, mobility, needs, and negotiation.
• Model the manuscript as a consultation-oriented reference tool based on the described compact, retrieval-focused structure.

Strengths

• Contains 155 records from a single, historically dated (1921) manuscript source.
• Data is structured around specific, recurring lexical domains relevant to trade interaction.
• Released under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license for reuse.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is very small at 80.7 KB, indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

Figshare, authored by Lin Liao.

Collection Method

Records drawn from a single privately compiled manuscript booklet.

Time Range

1921

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-11 13:11:11; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Likely the Sino-Mongolian frontier region, associated with Shanxi (Jinshang) merchants.