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Three-Character Classic (三字经) is a just-post-Song Dynasty (late 13th century) pedagogical poem, used for centuries as an early reader with bonus Confucian indoctrination—one of the three standard textbooks of elementary education. I say “attributed” to Wang Yinglin because though his name is traditionally attached, some of its views are at odds with his other published works, and while scholars have suggested a few alternatives they’ve come to no consensus. It’s usually presented as a continuous text, but the three-character lines can readily be divided, based on syntax and rhymes, into stanzas for ease of digesting (to which I’ve added numbers for ease of reference).
Note that the Literary Chinese, steeped in 1500 years of Confucian tradition and shorthand, is often way compacted. More compact, sometimes, than English can manage—which means my translation sometimes strains my form of three-beat lines. Especially hard to render: 仁 “benevolence” and 义 “righteousness” —watch out for those characters. For the record, my base text is (as usual) that of Chinese Text Project cross-checked against Wikisource (which has valuable links to relevant Wikipedia articles by way of glossing). This seems to be close to the original version, without later additions that, for ex, update its speedrun through history to bring it to current times.
CW: This goes hard on Confucianism. Expect period-, culture-, and doctrine-typical attitudes towards women.
(That said, the author’s attitudes and omissions are both fascinating.)
Three-Character Classic, attrib. Wang Yinglin
( People at their birth / By nature start out good— / In nature they are close, / Through habits they diverge / If people aren’t taught, / Their natures will degrade. / The way that’s to be taught / Is “Value staying focused.” )
Now imagine learning to read from that …
Index of Chinese translations
Subject quote from Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way, U2.
Note that the Literary Chinese, steeped in 1500 years of Confucian tradition and shorthand, is often way compacted. More compact, sometimes, than English can manage—which means my translation sometimes strains my form of three-beat lines. Especially hard to render: 仁 “benevolence” and 义 “righteousness” —watch out for those characters. For the record, my base text is (as usual) that of Chinese Text Project cross-checked against Wikisource (which has valuable links to relevant Wikipedia articles by way of glossing). This seems to be close to the original version, without later additions that, for ex, update its speedrun through history to bring it to current times.
CW: This goes hard on Confucianism. Expect period-, culture-, and doctrine-typical attitudes towards women.
(That said, the author’s attitudes and omissions are both fascinating.)
Three-Character Classic, attrib. Wang Yinglin
( People at their birth / By nature start out good— / In nature they are close, / Through habits they diverge / If people aren’t taught, / Their natures will degrade. / The way that’s to be taught / Is “Value staying focused.” )
Now imagine learning to read from that …
Index of Chinese translations
Subject quote from Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way, U2.