Part of Guoyun Lou's ancient book collection. Photos Provided to China Daily

According to a survey, the number of the Chinese characters in 13 traditional Chinese classics, including the Analects of Confucius, Mencius and the Book of Changes, is 589,283 in total. In addition, even if you know all the Chinese characters in the classics, I can’t say that you’ll understand every line of these books. That’s because they are written in classical Chinese and their sentence structure, the meaning of some words and way of expression are totally different from that of modern Chinese books. As a beginner, there is a long way to go before you can read classics written in classical Chinese. But does it mean you can’t read classics? Of course not.

According to the Chinese teaching standard of the nine-year compulsory education, the reading level of students in the ninth grade needs to reach 4 million Chinese characters in different genres such as the poem, novel and literature. They are also encouraged to read Chinese classics written in plain Chinese (or vernacular), including the Analects of Confucius, Mencius and Journey to the West. And how many Chinese characters should they know? Only 3,500. So if you just want to get a rough message from the Chinese classics, 3,500 Chinese characters is ok.

But if you want to have a better communication with Chinese people and a further knowledge of Chinese culture, 3,500 is absolutely not a limit. If you want to learn classical Chinese, a Chinese classic with annotations and a modern Chinese translation is a good start. It is hard to understand at first, but once you know the meaning behind the words, you will enjoy the beauty of rhyme and the beauty of rhythm of classical Chinese. It is probably more beautiful than modern Chinese.

To know Chinese culture is a long-term task. Good luck in Chinese learning!

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