Chinese Traditional Cultural Studies (4 Books)

This package includes four Chinese traditional cultural studies: Chéngyu, the Analects of Confucius (Children’s Edition), the Three Character Classic and Tang Poems. All books have 248 pages.

The 248-page Chéngyu features an excellent selection of popular Chengyu, often referred to as Chinese idioms or four-character idioms. Chengyu, or Chinese idioms, are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four characters. Chengyu were widely used in classical Chinese and are still common in vernacular Chinese writing and spoken Chinese today.

The Analects of Confucius (Children’s Edition) is a simplified version of the Analects of Confucius, a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples, as well as the discussions they held. It is the representative work of Confucianism and continues to have a tremendous influence on Chinese and East Asian thought and values today.

The Three Character Classic, or called San Zi Jing, is one of the embodiments of Confucianism suitable for teaching young children. It has served as a child's first formal education at home for thousands of years. With the short and simple text arranged in three-character verses, children learned many common characters, grammar structures, elements of Chinese history and the basis of Confucian morality.

The 248-page Tang Poems features an excellent selection of popular poems from the Tang Dynasty. Tang Dynasty marked the high point of classical Chinese poetry. Not only was the period prolific in poets and in poems (perhaps as many as 50,000 poems), but poetry was integrated into almost every aspect of professional and social life, including as part of the Imperial examinations taken by anyone wanting a government post.