Editing Thousand Character Classic (section)

{{Short description|Chinese educational poem that uses exactly 1,000 characters, each appearing once}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox Chinese
|title='''''Thousand Character Classic'''''
|pic=An Authentic Thousand Character Classic.gif
|piccap=A calligraphic work titled ''An Authentic "Thousand Character Classic"'', Song dynasty
|c={{linktext|千|字|文}}
|p=Qiānzì wén
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|q|yan|1|.|zi|4|-|wen|2}}
|w={{tonesup|Chʻien1 Tzŭ4 Wên2}}
|myr=Chyāndz̀ Wén
|bpmf={{bpmfsp|ㄑㄧㄢ|ㄗˋ|ㄨㄣˊ}}
|showflag=p
|j=Cin1zi6 Man4
|ci={{IPAc-yue|c|in|1|.|z|i|6|-|m|an|4}}
|y=Chīnjih Màhn
|poj=Chhian-jī-bûn
|tl=Tshian-jī-bûn
|mc=t͡sʰen d͡zɨ<sup>H</sup> mɨun
|wuu=Tshie zy ven
|kanji=千字文
|romaji=Senjimon
|rr=Cheonjamun
|mr=Ch'ŏnjamun
|hangul=천자문
|hanja=千字文
|qn=Thiên tự văn
|chuhan={{linktext|千|字|文}}
}}

[[File:Classique mille carac.JPG|thumb|Thousand Character Classic used as style dictionary, with each character given in different styles in each column{{snd}}1756 Japanese publication]]
The '''''Thousand Character Classic''''' ({{zh|t=千字文|s=千字文|p=Qiānzì wén}}), also known as the '''''Thousand Character Text''''', is a Chinese poem that has been used as a primer for teaching [[Chinese characters]] 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 song]]s for phonetic writing systems. Along with the ''[[Three Character Classic]]'' and the ''[[Hundred Family Surnames]]'', it formed the basis of traditional literacy training in the [[Sinosphere]].

The first line is ''Tian di xuan huang'' ({{zh|s=天地玄黄|t=天地玄黃|p=Tiāndì xuán huáng|j=Tin1 dei6 jyun4 wong4|l=Heaven earth dark yellow|first=t}}) and the last line, ''Yan zai hu ye'' ({{zhi|c=焉哉乎也|p=Yān zāi hū yě|j=Yin1 zoi1 fu4 jaa5}}) explains the use of the grammatical particles {{tlit|zh|yan}}, {{tlit|zh|zai}}, {{tlit|zh|hu}}, and {{tlit|zh|ye}}.{{sfnp|Paar|1963|p=7, 36}}