translation office of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. It contains Hangul transcription for both Manchu and Chinese. It is valuable to the study of Manchu phonology. Text variants The text of the Qiānzì Wén is not available in an authoritative, standardized version. Comparison of various manuscript, printed and electronic editions shows that these do not all contain exactly the same 1,000 characters. In many cases the differences concern just small graphic variations (for example character no. 4, 黃 or 黄, both huáng "yellow"). In other cases variant characters are quite different, although still associated with the same pronunciation and meaning (for example character no. 123, 一 or 壹, both yì "one"). In a few cases, variant characters represent different pronunciations and meanings (for example character no. 132, 竹 zhú "bamboo" or 樹 shù "tree"). These textual variants are not noted or discussed in any existing edition of the text in a western language. In fact, even the text appended to this article differs from the text presented in Wikisource in 25 places (nos. 123 一/壹, 132 竹/樹, 428 郁/鬱, 438 彩/綵, 479 群/羣, 482 稿/稾, 554 回/迴, 617 岳/嶽, 619 泰/恆, 643 綿/緜, 645 岩/巖/, 693 鑒/鑑, 733 沉/沈/, 767 蚤/早, 776 搖/颻, 787 玩/翫, 803 餐/飡, 846 筍/笋, 849 弦/絃, 852 宴/讌, 854 杯/盃, 881 箋/牋, 953 璿/璇, 980 庄/莊). A critical text edition of the Qiānzì Wén, based upon the best manuscript and printed sources, has not yet been attempted. Text See also Chengyu (traditional Chinese four-character parables) Pakapoo (the use of the Thousand Character Classic as a lottery) Similar poems in other languages Alphabet song Hanacaraka, Javanese Iroha, Japanese Shiva Sutra, Sanskrit Азбучна молитва, Bulgarian Notes Bibliography Online at Hathi Trust. Includes text (in four scripts), extensive notes, and translations into four languages. External links Transcribed, Translated and Annotated Thousand Character Essay by Nathan Sturman Thousand-Character Essay [Qianzi Wen] Thousand Character Classic 千字文 Chinese text with embedded Chinese-English reader dictionary at Chinese Notes Chinese classic texts Chinese culture Japanese literature Chinese characters Korean language Constrained writing Chinese children's books