三字经

by 章炳麟

“人之初，性本善，性相近，习相远……”这朗朗上口的诗经流传已久，并且经久不衰。《三字经》文字简洁，内容丰富，三字一句，用韵文写成，便于记诵，是旧时流传最广，影响最大的启蒙读本。清代王相的训诂，对这部简明读本的丰富内涵，作了比较充分的开掘。对照阅读，可以帮助我们理解：为什么自宋代《三字经》问世以来，有那么多人对其进行修订增补，甚至效仿，使之直到今天仍然充满活力。

6 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 23, 2012

Reviews

[Gabriel Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've memorised almost all of it i'm insane thanks i know

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Confucian primer written in lines of three characters. It's a children's book in the sense that it's aimed at children, but not necessarily with respect to being presented in a manner most conducive to childhood learning. (While it's concise, the material isn't presented in an interesting or memorable form. i.e. It's intended for brute force rote memorization.)

The book consists of five sections, ranging between twenty-four and one hundred and six lines (72 to 318 characters per chapter.) The first introduces Confucian virtues. The second offers a broad overview of classics of Chinese philosophy. The third section lists the dynasties of China. The penultimate section describes ideal behavior from a Confucian perspective. The last, and briefest, section is largely a pep talk on studying hard.

As someone learning Mandarin Chinese, it's interesting to see how sentences are formed in this sparse format, and this text offers insight into Chinese history and philosophy, in addition to providing a good early reader.

If you are interested in learning elementary Confucianism or you're learning Chinese and looking for short and simple texts for reading, I'd recommend one look into the Three Character Classic.

[Jiankui Zhao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thumbs up

It shows the fundamental values which are never out of date. The essence of life and living seldom change. Book is in Chinese.