Illuminating Chinese Classics

Dou Yanshan (窦燕山) was a figure from the Five Dynasties Period (五代时期) in around the 10th century. He was a father to five sons, who all grew up to become high government officials. In today’s episode of the Three Character Classic (三字经) we talk about the role of the family in ensuring children get a good education. The三字经 was written by the Song Dynasty (宋朝) scholar Wang Yinglin (王应麟). This 1,134 character text was one of the first textbooks used by students, and provided lessons on education, morality and ethics, science, literature, and history.