The Four-Corner Method was invented in the 1920s by [[Wang Yunwu]] (王雲五), the editor in chief at Commercial Press Ltd., China. Its development was based mainly on contributions by the Russian scholar [[Otto Rosenberg]]<ref>Karenina Kollmar-Paulenz (ed.). "Otto Ottonovich Rosenberg and his Contribution to Buddhology in Russia," Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde. Heft 41, 1998.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wason.library.cornell.edu/iaol/Vol.44/barlow_3.pdf |title=The Mysterious Case of the Brilliant Young Russian Orientalist... |author=John Barlow |accessdate=2007-04-12 |archiveurl= httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20070609113225/http://wason.library.cornell.edu/iaol/Vol.44/barlow_3.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate=2007-06-09 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> in the early 20th century, as well as experiments by [[Lin Yutang]] and others{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}. Its original purpose was to aid telegraphers in looking up [[Chinese telegraph code]] (CST) numbers in use at that time from long lists of characters. This was mentioned by Wang Yunwu in an introductory pamphlet called Sijiaohaoma Jianzifa in 1926. Introductory essays for this pamphlet were written by [[Cai Yuanpei]] and [[Hu Shi]].
