Abstract: “Hua Shu” (dazzling numeral and character symbols) is a special series of numbers and words used by some accountants who were either in charge of dealing in farmland or collecting land rental for landowners in the region of Suzhou from the Ming and Qing dynasty to the Republic of China. “Hua Shu” consists of “numbers” and “characters”：the numbers here refer to the Suzhou numerals and Chinese numbers in figure while the “characters” here refer to a set of symbols of measurement which indicate farmland unit of area and capacity of rental grain, as well as monetary unit. Taking scripts clipped from rental books in Suzhou and Shanghai archives, deciphering and identifying them word by word, this paper argues that “Hua Shu” is a set of shorthand notations rather than a set of secret marks, and that it is very easy and simple to learn and to write.

Key words: “hua shu”, Suzhou numeral, Chinese number in figure