Original work by Wang Yinglin (disputed), additions and changes by Zhang Taiyan and others.

The author of the original "Three Character Classic" is said to be Yinglin, the great Confucian king of eastern Zhejiang in the late Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty, and the other is Shizi Shizi, a survivor of the Song Dynasty in the early Yuan Dynasty. The earliest version of the "Three Character Classic" that can be seen today is mainly the engraving of the middle and late Ming Dynasty. For example, Zhao Nanxing, a representative of the Donglin Party and an official to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, annotated and edited the "Three Character Classic Annotations", which was probably engraved during the Wanli period.

In the Qing Dynasty, the "Three Character Classic" became very popular, and various versions emerged one after another. The "Exegesis of the Three Character Classic", which was annotated and edited by Wang Xiang, has had a great influence since its publication during the Kangxi period and has been reprinted many times by later generations. In the preface to this volume, Wang first proposed that the Three Character Classic was written by Wang Yinglin.

The "Three Character Classic" was published in Suzhou in the 43rd year of Qianlong's reign (1778). Only the original text is engraved, with five lines per half page and six characters per line. It is an earlier version with the specific publication time indicated. In addition, the "Three Character Classic Annotations" published in the late Qing Dynasty, annotated by He Xingsi and edited by Lang Xuan, was widely circulated in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Lang Xuan praised the "Three Character Classic" as "a sleeve of "Tongjian Gangmu"". The statement is also quite influential.

Extended information

The original text is after "the chaos between the north and the south", followed by the four sentences "the seventeen histories are all here, containing the control of chaos and knowing the rise and fall". The so-called "Seventeen Histories" is the collective name for the seventeen official histories from "Historical Records" to "New History of the Five Dynasties". It is a concept unique to the people of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. When Wen Tianxiang was defeated and captured, he once told Prime Minister Polo of the Yuan Dynasty, "Where does a seventeenth history begin?"

Later versions added content from the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and the "Seventeen Histories" were also changed to "Twenty-One Histories" or "Twenty-Four Histories".

Finally, there are slight similarities and differences in individual words. For example, some Qing Dynasty versions changed the original text "It was Kong Ji who wrote the Doctrine of the Mean" to "Zi Sibi, who wrote the Doctrine of the Mean", and changed "I, Duke Ji, wrote the "Li" of Zhou" to "I, Duke of Zhou, wrote "The Rites of Zhou" "Li", because the titles of Zisi and Zhou Gong are more familiar to ordinary people, this is for the sake of popularity.

In addition, changing "Zhixuanzeng" to "Zhiyuanzeng" is to avoid the name taboo of Xuanye, the saint ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, which is a common practice in ancient books.

People's Daily Online - Version changes of "Three Character Classic"