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The so-called left-top speedy radical system (zuo-shangwen kuaijian bushou 左上文快檢部首) is a graphical indexing system of Chinese characters developed by the linguist Liu Dah-ren (Liu Daren 劉達人) and exclusively used in his dictionary Liu's Chinese-English Dictionary, published in 1978.
Liu's intention was to provide his users with a system that should give quick access to Chinese characters via a radical system that was independent of the semantic content of the character. For many characters it is not easy to find out the traditional radical, like 目 for 相, 女 for 妝, 又 for 取, 口 for 和, only to tell a few simple examples. In Liu Renda's system the radicals were purely abstract and graphical. Liu was able to group all Chinese characters into 18 different types, according to the position of the radical. He abolished some rarely used or complicated radicals (邑, 阜， 辵， 匸， 干， 舛， 韭， 青 and 鹵) and introduced new, graphical radicals, coming to a total number of 215 radicals.
New radicals are: XXX image new radicals.
This large number is due to the fact that some traditional radicals appearing in different shapes depending on the position in a character were split into two (人 and 亻， 心 and 忄， 手 and 扌， 水 and 氵， 犬 and 犭， 艹， 阝， 火 and 灬, or 示 and 礻). Liu discerns:
- left radicals (like 亻， 扌， 氵 or 木)
- top radicals (like 一， 亠， or 宀)
- right radicals (like 頁 or 鳥)
- left-bottom half-enclosures (廴， 辶， 走 or 風)
- top-right half-enclosures (XXX or 气)
- three sides half-enclosures (冂 or 匚)
- bottom radicals (like 皿， 里 or 鬲)
- whole enclosures or containers (like 囗)
- simple interlocking characters (like 中, 東, 失, 叉, 史 or 弗) and
- complicated characters (like 囂, 纍, 敏 or 報).
XXX image of character compositions
For the position of a character in the dictionary, this classification of characters is not relevant. It is only a scholarly analysis of what graphic types of characters exist. In looking up a dictionary, the method is generally the same as with traditional radicals, only with a change of the radical system. Below the radical level, the characters are arranged according to the number of residual strokes. This method is also traditional.
In determining the radical, priority is given to the left and the top radical. If a such does not exist, half-enclosures or enclosures are the valid radicals. In characters where three elements are potential radicals, the left or independent radical is to be chosen. If there seems to be no radical or if radicals interlock, the topmost stroke indicates which part is the radical. Characters containing several potential radicals are subject to that radical which is the first clockwise from the left upper corner.
Liu Daren also invented a method to include the tone pitch into the transcription. He used the modern Hanyu pinyin transcription 漢語拼音. For the first tone, no change of the vowel was made, for the raising tone, an r is inserted after the vowel, for the falling-raising "third" tone, the vowel is doubled, and for the falling tone, an h is inserted after the vowel. This system is thus a combination of the Hanyu pinyin system and the Gwoyeu Romatzyh transcription system 國語羅馬字.
Source: Liu Daren 劉達人 (1978). Chinese-English Dictionary / Liushi Han-Ying cidian 劉氏漢英詞典. New York: The Asian Associates. [Taiwanese reprints.]
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