Which dictionary should I buy for history learning?

Dunhuang17

秀才
I have bought a couple of dictionaries on Pleco (generally basic/cheaper ones), but I am looking for one which has a lot of historical figures/places on it, preferably with explanation. Don't mind if it is Chinese/Chinese or Chinese/English. Currently reading about the Qin dynasty (221 BC).

Any recommendations would be appreciated.



Edit: Must support simplified characters.
 

Shun

状元
Hi Dunhuang17,

I attach a screenshot of all dictionary entries on Qin Shihuangdi:

qinshihuangdi.PNG

As you can see, only three dictionaries have an entry on this important personage, the KEY dictionary, the Grand Ricci, and the HanDeDict. You can see that the Grand Ricci is the only one with a real explanation on him. It is a huge dictionary with 328,989 entries.

If you require explanations in another language, it would probably be easiest just to use either the English or the Chinese Wikipedia, or Baidu Baike for Chinese. Wikipedia's entries are much more detailed than Grand Ricci's, of course, including pictures, but it may make sense still to get Grand Ricci just to see whether a personage is important (and to verify its Hanzi, and study it).

Hope this helps,

Shun
 

Dunhuang17

秀才
Thanks for your prompt reply.

This doesn't look promising. My French is not bad, but my German is awful and I would rather read in Chinese or English.

Also I am getting a lot of names of ministers and chancellors 大臣 that I would like to know a little bit about. I thought the Hanyu Da Cidian would have them. I'll probably stick to Baike.
 
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