\tThe Qianziwen \u5343\u5b57\u6587 "Thousand-characters text" is a character text book for elementary learning. There are two books with that title, namely one from theLiang period \u6881 (502-557) writer Prince Xiao Zifan \u8427\u5b50\u8303, which is already lost, and one by Zhou Xingsi \u5468\u5174\u55e3 from the same period. The book was compiled on imperial order by using one thousand characters of the oeuvres of the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi \u738b\u7fb2\u4e4b from the Eastern Jin period \u4e1c\u664b (317-420). Zhou selected one thousand different, often-used characters and composed them to a long poem, of which each verse is 4 words or characters long. Each two verses rhyme, so that they are easily to remember. The words cover all aspects of nature and human life, and thus also serve to learn the most important characters of all fields, like the universe, history, self-cultivation, learning, eating and drinking, living, gardens, sacrifices, and much more.<\/p>\n
\tThe characters of the Qianziwen serve for numbering a large amount of chapters, books or other data. Each character represents a number, like \u5929=1, \u5730=2, \u7384=3, \u9ec4=4, \u5b87=5, \u5b99=6, \u6d2a=7, \u8352=8,… \u7109=997, \u54c9=998, \u4e4e=999, \u4e5f=1000. One example for this method is the numbering of the juan "scrolls" in some editions of the Daoist Canon Daozang \u9053\u85cf.<\/p>\n
\tThe Qianziwen was so popular that it was translated into Manchurian during the Qing period \u6e05 (1644-1911).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\tThere were several supplements or alternatives written, like Shi Qiwei's \u4f8d\u5176\u73ae Xu qianwen \u7eed\u5343\u6587 and Ge Gangzheng's \u845b\u521a\u6b63 Chongxu qianwen \u91cd\u7eed\u5343\u6587 and Ge Gangzheng's \u845b\u521a\u6b63 Sanxu qianwen \u4e09\u7eed\u5343\u6587 from the Song period \u5b8b (960-1279), Zhou Lüjing's \u5468\u5c65\u9756 Guangyi qianwen \u5e7f\u6613\u5343\u6587 and Li Deng's \u674e\u767b Zhengzi qianwen \u6b63\u5b57\u5343\u6587 from the Ming period \u660e (1368-1644), and He Guizhen's \u4f55\u6842\u73cd Xunmeng qianziwen \u8bad\u8499\u5343\u5b57\u6587 from the Qing period. The Xu qianwen is included in the collectanea Yunzizaikan congshu \u4e91\u81ea\u5728\u9f9b\u4e1b\u4e66 and Yiyuan bilu chuke \u827a\u56ed\u79d8\u5f55\u5f55\u521d\u523b.<\/p>\n
\tSome small texts imitating the pattern of the Qianziwen are: Xu gu qianwen \u53d9\u53e4\u5343\u6587 by the Song period scholar Hu Yin \u80e1\u5bc5, with a commentary by Huang Hao \u9ec4\u704f; Jiejing zazi \u5feb\u6377\u65b9\u5f0f\u6742\u5b57; Baoju zazi \u5305\u4e3e\u6742\u5b57; and Nongcun zazi \u519c\u6751\u6742\u5b57.
\t <\/p>\n