Thousand Character Classic

Thousand Character Classic
A calligraphic work titled An Authentic "Thousand Character Classic", Song dynasty
Chinese name
Chinese
Hanyu PinyinQiānzì wén
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinQiānzì wén
Bopomofoㄑㄧㄢ ㄗˋ ㄨㄣˊ
Wade–GilesChʻien1 Tzŭ4 Wên2
Yale RomanizationChyāndz̀ Wén
IPA[tɕʰjɛ́n.tsɹ̩̂ wə̌n]
Wu
RomanizationTshie zy ven
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationChīnjih Màhn
JyutpingCin1zi6 Man4
IPA[tsʰin˥.tsi˨ mɐn˩]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJChhian-jī-bûn
Tâi-lôTshian-jī-bûn
Middle Chinese
Middle Chineset͡sʰen d͡zɨH mɨun
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetThiên tự văn
Chữ Hán
Korean name
Hangul천자문
Hanja千字文
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationCheonjamun
McCune–ReischauerCh'ŏnjamun
Japanese name
Kanji千字文
Transcriptions
RomanizationSenjimon
Thousand Character Classic used as style dictionary, with each character given in different styles in each column – 1756 Japanese publication

The Thousand Character Classic (Chinese: 千字文; pinyin: 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 songs 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 (traditional Chinese: 天地玄黃; simplified Chinese: 天地玄黄; pinyin: Tiāndì xuán huáng; Jyutping: Tin1 dei6 jyun4 wong4; lit. 'Heaven earth dark yellow') and the last line, Yan zai hu ye (焉哉乎也; Yān zāi hū yě; Yin1 zoi1 fu4 jaa5) explains the use of the grammatical particles yan, zai, hu, and ye.[1]

  1. ^ Paar (1963), p. 7, 36.