Abstract: Origin of Chinese Characters written by Xu Shen is not only the originator of Chinese character studies, but also the model of Chinese character teaching and small seal script calligraphy. It has a very extensive and far-reaching influence on later generations since its publication. Because of its importance, numerous editions have been spread. As for the Daxu version of Origin of Chinese Characters, E Le-bu version, SUN Xingyan version, CHEN Changzhi version, Guang Xu version are the four most popular ones since the Qing Dynasty. Given that the original is lost and there are many differences among the existing versions whose corrections and qualities vary a lot, it is of great practical significance for academic research and application to collate, discriminate and analyze glyphs from the perspective of philology. This paper, based on the modern information technology and “Chinese character database”, makes exhaustive collation and textual analysis of the four versions above, and points out that there are mainly two types of difference: wrong glyphs and diverse forms of a character. Reasons for these differences include political avoidance, copying and imprinting, and the deviation of personal understanding of small seal script and so on. This research is an effective attempt to study traditional subjects through the digital system, which has accumulated experience and laid a foundation for the collation and research of whole Chinese characters based on the “Chinese character database”.

Key words: Daxu versions of Origin of Chinese Characters, small seal script, wrong glyphs, different forms of a character