The ''Thousand Character Classic'' (), also known as the ''Thousand Character Text'', is a Chinese poem that has been used as a primer for teaching

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

to children from the sixth century onward. It contains exactly one thousand characters, each used only once, arranged into 250 lines of four characters apiece and grouped into four line rhyming stanzas to facilitate easy memorization. It is sung, akin to alphabet songs for phonetic writing systems. Along with the '' Three Character Classic'' and the ''

Hundred Family Surnames The ''Hundred Family Surnames'' (), commonly known as ''Bai Jia Xing'', also translated as ''Hundreds of Chinese Surnames'', is a classic Chinese language , Chinese text composed of common Chinese surnames. An unknown author compiled the book ...

'', it formed the basis of traditional literacy training in the

Sinosphere The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosph ...

. The first line is ''Tian di xuan huang'' () and the last line, ''Yan zai hu ye'' () explains the use of the grammatical particles , , , and .

History

There are several stories of the work's origin. One says that Emperor Wu of the

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

(r. 502–549) commissioned Zhou Xingsi (, 470–521) to compose this poem for his prince to practice

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

. Another says that the emperor commanded Wang Xizhi, a noted calligrapher, to write out one thousand characters and give them to Zhou as a challenge to make into an ode. Another story is that the emperor commanded his princes and court officers to compose essays and ordered another minister to copy them on a thousand slips of paper, which became mixed and scrambled. Zhou was given the task of restoring these slips to their original order. He worked so intensely to finish doing so overnight that his hair turned completely white. The ''Thousand Character Classic'' is understood to be one of the most widely read texts in China in the first millennium. The popularity of the book in the Tang dynasty is shown by the fact that there were some 32 copies found in the

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...

archaeological excavations. By the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, since all literate people could be assumed to have memorized the text, the order of its characters was used to put documents in sequence in the same way that alphabetical order is used in alphabetic languages. The Buddhist Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho used the thousand character classic and the

Qieyun The ''Qieyun'' () is a Chinese rhyme dictionary that was published in 601 during the Sui dynasty. The book was a guide to proper reading of classical texts, using the '' fanqie'' method to indicate the pronunciation of Chinese characters. The ' ...

and it was written that "In Qocho city were more than fifty monasteries, all titles of which are granted by the emperors of the Tang dynasty, which keep many Buddhist texts as Tripitaka, Tangyun, Yupuan, Jingyin etc." In the dynasties following the Song, the '' Three Character Classic'', ''

'', and ''1,000 Character Classic'' came to be known collectively as ''San Bai Qian'' (Three, Hundred, Thousand), from the first character in their titles. They were the almost universal introductory literacy texts for students, almost exclusively boys, from elite backgrounds and even for a number of ordinary villagers. Each was available in many versions, printed cheaply, and available to all since they did not become superseded. When a student had memorized all three, he could recognize and pronounce, though not necessarily write or understand the meaning of, roughly 2,000 characters (there was some duplication among the texts). Since Chinese did not use an alphabet, this was an effective, albeit time-consuming, way of giving a "crash course" in character recognition before going on to understanding texts and writing characters. During the Song dynasty, the noted neo-Confucianism scholar

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...

, inspired by the three classics, wrote ''Xiaoxue'' or ''Elementary Learning''.

Calligraphy

Due to the fact that the ''Thousand Character Classic'' contains a thousand unique Chinese characters, and its wide circulation, it has been highly favored by calligraphers in East Asian countries. According to the ''Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue (宣和画谱),'' the

Northern Song The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

imperial collection included twenty-three authentic works by

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

calligrapher Zhiyong (a descendant of Wang Xizhi), fifteen of which were copies of the ''Thousand Character Classic''. Chinese calligraphers such as Chu Suiliang,

Sun Guoting Sun Guoting () (646–691) or Sun Qianli (孫虔禮),It is not known whether Guoting was his name and Qianli his courtesy name, or the other way around. was a Chinese calligrapher of the early Tang dynasty, remembered for his cursive calligraphy ...

Zhang Xu Zhang Xu (, fl. 8th century), courtesy name Bogao (), was a Chinese calligrapher and poet of the Tang dynasty. A native of Suzhou, he became an official during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Zhang was known as one of the Eight Immort ...

Huaisu 250px, One of Huai Su's surviving works Huaisu (, 737–799), courtesy name Zangzhen (), was a Buddhist monk and calligrapher of the Tang dynasty, famous for his cursive calligraphy. Fewer than 10 pieces of his works have survived. One of his ...

, Mi Yuanzhang (Northern Song), Emperor Gaozong of Southern Song,

Emperor Huizong of Song Emperor Huizong of Song (7 June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the penultimate emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. He was also a very well-known painter, poet and calli ...

, Zhao Mengfu, and

Wen Zhengming Wen Zhengming (28 November 1470 – 28 March 1559Wen Zhengming's epitaph by Huang Zuo indicate that he died on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the ''ji'wei'' year during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor. (嘉靖己未二月二十日，与严侍 ...

all have notable calligraphic works of the ''Thousand Character Classic''. Manuscripts unearthed from

also contain practice fragments of the ''Thousand Character Classic'', indicating that by the 7th century at the latest, using the ''Thousand Character Classic'' to practice Chinese calligraphy had become quite widespread.

Japan

Wani, a semi-legendary Chinese-Baekje scholar, is said to have translated the ''Thousand Character Classic'' to Japanese along with 10 books of the ''

Analects of Confucius The ''Analects'', also known as the ''Sayings of Confucius'', is an ancient Chinese philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled by his followers. ...

'' during the reign of Emperor Ōjin (r. 370?-410?). However, this alleged event precedes the composition of the ''Thousand Character Classic''. This makes many assume that the event is simply fiction, but some believe it to be based in fact, perhaps using a different version of the ''Thousand Character Classic''.

Korea

The ''Thousand Character Classic'' has been used as a primer for learning Chinese characters for many centuries. It is uncertain when the ''Thousand Character Classic'' was introduced to Korea. The book is noted as a principal force—along with the introduction of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

into

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

—behind the introduction of Chinese characters into the Korean language.

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

was the sole means of writing Korean until the

Hangul The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

script was created under the direction of

King Sejong the Great Sejong (; 15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), commonly known as Sejong the Great (), was the fourth monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He is regarded as the greatest ruler in Korean history, and is remembered as the inventor of Hangul, the n ...

in the 15th century; however, even after the invention of Hangul, most Korean scholars continued to write in Hanja until the late 19th century. The ''Thousand Character Classic's'' use as a writing primer for children began in 1583, when King Seonjo ordered Han Ho (1544–1605) to carve the text into wooden printing blocks. The ''Thousand Character Classic'' has its own form in representing the Chinese characters. For each character, the text shows its meaning (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

: ; ' or ') and

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

(Korean Hanja: ; '). The vocabulary to represent the ' has remained unchanged in every edition, despite the natural evolution of the Korean language since then. However, in the editions ''Gwangju Thousand Character Classic'' and ''Seokbong Thousand Character Classic'', both written in the 16th century, there are a number of different meanings expressed for the same character. The types of changes of ' in ''Seokbong Thousand Character Classic'' into those in ''Gwangju Thousand Character Classic'' fall roughly under the following categories: #Definitions turned more generalized or more concrete when semantic scope of each character had been changed #Former definitions were replaced by synonyms #Parts of speech in the definitions were changed From these changes, replacements between native Korean and Sino-Korean can be found. Generally, "rare ' vocabularies" are presumed to be pre-16th century, for it is thought that they may be a fossilized form of native Korean vocabulary or affected by the influence of a

regional dialect A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

Jeolla Jeolla Province (, ) was one of the historical Eight Provinces of Korea during the Kingdom of Joseon in southwestern Korea. It consisted of the modern South Korean provinces of North Jeolla, South Jeolla and Gwangju Metropolitan City as wel ...

Province. South Korean senior scholar, Daesan Kim Seok-jin (Korean

: ), expressed the significance of Thousand Character Classic by contrasting the Western ''concrete science'' and the Asian ''metaphysics'' and ''origin-oriented thinking'' in which "it is the collected poems of nature of cosmos and reasons behind human life". The first 44 characters of the Thousand Character Classic were used on the reverse sides of some cash coins of the

Korean mun The ''mun'' (, , ) was introduced as the main currency of Korea in 1625 and stayed in use until 1892. Prior to the ''mun'', cash coins with the inscriptions ''tongbo'' (通寶) and ''jungbo'' (重寶) and silver vases called ''ŭnbyŏng'' wer ...

currency to indicate furnace or "series" numbers.

Vietnam

There is a version of ''Thousand Character Classic'' that was changed to the Vietnamese lục bát (

chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 六八) verse form. The text itself is called Thiên tự văn giải âm (

: 千字文解音), and it was published in 1890 by Quan Văn Đường (

: 觀文堂). The text is annotated with

chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

characters, for example, the character 地 is annotated with its chữ Nôm equivalent 坦. Because it was changed to the lục bát verse form, many characters are changed such as in the first line,

Manchu texts

Several different

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

texts of the ''Thousand Character Classic'' are known today. They all use the Manchu script to transcribe Chinese characters. They are utilized in research on Chinese phonology. The ''Man han ciyan dzi wen'' () written by Chen Qiliang (), contains Chinese text and Manchu phonetic transcription. This version was published during the reign of the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ...

. Another text, the ''Qing Shu Qian Zi Wen'' () by You Zhen (), was published in 1685 as a supplement to the ''Baiti Qing Wen'' (). It provides Manchu transcription without original Chinese. It is known for being referred to by Japanese scholar

Ogyū Sorai , pen name , was a Japanese historian, philologist, philosopher, and translator. He has been described as the most influential such scholar during the Edo period Japan. His primary area of study was in applying the teachings of Confucianism to go ...

for Manchu studies as early as the 18th century. The undated ''ciyan dzi wen'' which is owned by the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

is a variant of the ''Qing Shu Qian Zi Wen''. It is believed to have been used by the translation office of the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

of Korea. It contains Hangul transcription for both Manchu and Chinese. It is valuable to the study of Manchu phonology.

Text variants

The text of the ''Qiānzì Wén'' is not available in an authoritative, standardized version. Comparison of various manuscript, printed and electronic editions shows that these do not all contain exactly the same 1,000 characters. In many cases the differences concern just small graphic variations (for example character no. 4, 黃 or 黄, both ''huáng'' "yellow"). In other cases variant characters are quite different, although still associated with the same pronunciation and meaning (for example character no. 123, 一 or 壹, both ''yì'' "one"). In a few cases, variant characters represent different pronunciations and meanings (for example character no. 132, 竹 ''zhú'' "bamboo" or 樹 ''shù'' "tree"). These textual variants are not noted or discussed in any existing edition of the text in a western language. In fact, even the text appended to this article differs from the text presented in Wikisource in 25 places (nos. 123 一/壹, 132 竹/樹, 428 郁/鬱, 438 彩/綵, 479 群/羣, 482 稿/稾, 554 回/迴, 617 岳/嶽, 619 泰/恆, 643 綿/緜, 645 岩/巖/, 693 鑒/鑑, 733 沉/沈/, 767 蚤/早, 776 搖/颻, 787 玩/翫, 803 餐/飡, 846 筍/笋, 849 弦/絃, 852 宴/讌, 854 杯/盃, 881 箋/牋, 953 璿/璇, 980 庄/莊). A critical text edition of the ''Qiānzì Wén'', based upon the best manuscript and printed sources, has not yet been attempted.

Text

References

Bibliography

* Online a
Hathi Trust
Includes text (in four scripts), extensive notes, and translations into four languages. *

External links

* * Thousand-Character Essay ianzi Wen

* * * * *
Thousand Character Classic 千字文
Chinese text with embedded Chinese-English reader dictionary at Chinese Notes {{Confucian texts Chinese classic texts Chinese culture Japanese literature Chinese character lists Korean language Constrained writing Chinese children's books Chinese-language children's books