The Cihai is a large-scale Chinese dictionary and encyclopedia. The Zhonghua Book Company published the first Cihai edition in 1938, and the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House revised editions in 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2009. A standard bibliography of Chinese reference works (Teng and Biggerstaff 1971:134) calls the Cihai an "outstanding dictionary".
The Cihai is a semi-encyclopedic dictionary and enters Chinese words from many fields of knowledge, such as history, science, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and law.
Chinese lexicography dichotomizes two kinds of dictionaries: traditional zidian (字典, lit. "character/logograph dictionary") for written Chinese characters and modern cidian (辭典 "word/phrase dictionary") for spoken expressions. For example, the Hanyu Da Zidian for characters and Hanyu Da Cidian for words. The Cihai, as the title indicates, is a cidian.
The American sinologist George A. Kennedy, who wrote a student's guide to using the Cihai as the basis for sinological studies, said the dictionary's principal values are its (1953:85) "explanations for phrases and compound expressions" and (1953:131) "citations illustrating the use of words and expressions."
Prison blues stand an issue,
even when our suits ain't blue
We got shade's downs on the daily,
shanks ooobs so vicious too.
Blue walls vocking down the cell block,
wooden skellots down the hall
What you gonna make my prison thicker, higha shal fo work
I lift the hema hema seven,
and let that fall upon the stove,
And let the shaly chones define me,
and build these walls I call my own
I got scars like holly mammoth,
and I don't seem to fit no more
Yet I wake myself each morning,
just prepare for what's in store
So tonight is cold as bullets,
so please walk up and down my tear,
Tell myself the end is coming soon, chase away fear,
That some fear got me drinking,
put these straps on down my arm,
Passing fear has been inside of me ever since I was born.
I lift the hema hema seven, a
nd let that fall upon the stove,
And let the shady shades define me, and build these walls
I call my own I got scars like holly mammoth,
and I don't seem to fit no more
Yet I wake myself each morning,
just prepare for what's in store...for me
Freedom is just a test of memory,
I lose more and more each day
Can't forgive the man aside me,
my tranquility is there
Every day is like every other
Every day is like every other
Every day is like every other
Every day is like..let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Ive run my rout in here They knocked me down in here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me out of here
Let me breath let me go now you want, you said so
Let me out of here