Editing Three Character Classic (section)

{{Short description|13th century Chinese literary work}}
{{italic title}}
{{Chinese
| t = 三字經
| s = 三字经
| p = Sānzì Jīng
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|s|an|1|.|zi|4|-|j|ing|1}}
| w = San¹ Tzŭ⁴ Ching¹
| gr = Santzyh Jing
| myr = Sāndz̀ Jīng
| bpmf = ㄙㄢ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄗˋ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄐㄧㄥ
| showflag = p
| j = Saam1zi6 Ging1
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|s|aam|1|.|z|i|6|-|g|ing|1}}
| y = Sāamjih Gīng
| poj = Sam-jī-keng
| tl = Sam-jī-king
| wuu = se zy cin
| qn = Tam tự kinh
| chuhan = 三字經
| hanja = 三字經
| hangul = 삼자경
| rr = Samjagyeong
| kana = さんじきょう
| romaji = Sanjikyō
| kanji = 三字経
}}
The '''''Three Character Classic''''' ({{zh|c=三字经, 三字經}}), commonly known as '''''San Zi Jing''''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2014514270/|title=San Zi Jing|work=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=2010-08-15}}</ref> also translated as '''''Trimetric Classic''''',<ref name="Chen2016">{{cite book|author=Minjie Chen|title=The Sino-Japanese War and Youth Literature: Friends and Foes on the Battlefield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4JwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15|date=22 January 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-50881-6|pages=15–}}</ref> is one of the [[Chinese classic texts]]. It was probably written in the 13th century and is mainly attributed to [[Wang Yinglin]] (王應麟, 1223–1296) during the [[Song dynasty]]. It is also attributed to [[Ou Shizi]] (1234–1324).

The work is not one of the traditional six Confucian classics, but rather the embodiment of [[Confucianism]] suitable for teaching young children.<ref name="scollon">{{cite book|last=Scollon|first=Ron|author2=Suzanne Wong Scollon |author3=Rodney H. Jones |title=Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date=3 January 2012|volume=35|pages=166–167|isbn=9780470656402}}</ref> Until the latter part of the 1800s, it served as a child's first formal education at home. The text is written in triplets of characters for easy memorization. With [[Literacy|illiteracy]] common for most people at the time, the oral tradition of reciting the classic ensured its popularity and survival through the centuries.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} With the short and simple text arranged in three-character verses, children learned many common characters, grammar structures, elements of [[Chinese history]] and the basis of Confucian morality, especially [[filial piety]] and respect for elders (the [[Social structure of China|Five Relationships]] in Chinese society).<ref>{{cite book|last=Kutcher|first=Norman|title=Mourning in Late Imperial China: Filial Piety and the State|url=https://archive.org/details/mourninglateimpe00kutc|url-access=limited|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|date=2006|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mourninglateimpe00kutc/page/n40 27]|isbn=9780521030182}}</ref>

During the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties, the ''Three Character Classic'' formed the basis of elementary education, along with ''[[Hundred Family Surnames]]'' and ''[[Thousand Character Classic]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=David|author2=Andrew James Nathan|author2-link=Andrew James Nathan|title=Popular Culture in Late Imperial China|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|date=1987|pages=29|isbn=9780520061729}}</ref> The group came to be known 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, they 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, though time-consuming, way of giving a "crash course" in character recognition before going on to understanding texts and writing characters.{{sfnp|Rawski|1979|pp=46–48}}

The text fell into disuse during the [[Cultural Revolution]] given the state's opposition to non-socialist ideologies. The classic, however, continued to circulate in other parts of the Chinese-speaking world with its inclusion in the ''[[Tung shing|Chinese Almanac]]'' (通勝) along with several other classics such as the ''[[Thousand Character Classic]]''.

The first four verses state the core ''credo'' of Confucianism, that is, that human nature is inherently good, as developed by [[Mencius]], considered one of the most influential traditional Chinese philosophers after Confucius.<ref name="scollon"/>

::::::人之初 (''rén zhī chū'')     People at birth,
::::::性本善 (''xìng běn shàn'')   Are naturally good (kind-hearted).
::::::性相近 (''xìng  xiāng jìn'') Their natures are similar,
::::::習相遠 (''xí xiāng yuǎn'')   (But) their habits make them different (from each other).

Even nowadays, the above two introductory quotes are very familiar to most youth in [[mainland China]], [[Hong Kong]] and [[Taiwan]], if not known by heart. Though the work is no longer taught at public schools (it is still taught in Beijing today if not in all schools), some parents still use this classic to teach their young children to pronounce Chinese characters. It is sometimes a game for [[elementary school]] children to show off who can recite the most sentences from this classic.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}