三字经

the Three Character Classic—written in the 13th century attributed to Wang Yinglin(王应麟1223—96)of the Southern Song Dynasty,is a distillation of the essentials of Confucian thought expressed in a way suitable for teaching young children. It served as a child’s first bit of formal education at home.It is written in couplets of three characters (syllables)for easy memorization. One might call it a Confucian catechism.