Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Q Lín B y n, Foochow Romanized: Chék Lìng Báik- ng), sometimes translated as Book of Eight Sounds or Book of Eight Tones in English, is a Chinese rime book of approximately ten thousand characters based on the earlier form of the Fuzhou dialect. First compiled in the 17th century, it is the pioneering work of all written sources for Min languages, and is widely quoted in modern academic research in Chinese phonology. Q Lín B y n is in fact a combination of two dictionaries Q (The Eight Sounds of General Qi and a Convenient Prospectus of Word Meaning) and Lín (The Homonyms of Pearl and Jade by the Honorable Lin Bishan). The compilation date of the former antecedes that of the latter. The two surnames Q and Lín appearing on the title stand for Qi Jiguang and Lin Bishan, which might mislead people into thinking that they were the authors of this book. Sincethe famous military general Qi Jiguang was a native of Shandong Province and no records show he had mastered Fuzhou dialect within the short period of his stay in Fuzhou, the likelihood of his being one of the authors have been ruled out without doubt.