Written Chinese
Written Chinese () comprises Chinese characters used to represent the Chinese language. Chinese characters do not constitute an alphabet or a compact syllabary. Rather, the writing system is roughly logosyllabic; that is, a character generally represents one syllable of spoken Chinese and may be a word on its own or a part of a polysyllabic word. The characters themselves are often composed of parts that may represent physical objects, abstract notions, or pronunciation. Literacy requires the memorization of a great many characters: educated Chinese know about 4,000. The large number of Chinese characters has in part led to the adoption of Western alphabets as an auxiliary means of representing Chinese.
Holy Emperor Guan's True Scripture to Awaken the World
"The True Scripture to Awaken the World" is written in simple Classical Chinese, and on the whole it doesn't contain more than 700 Chinese characters. In the first twelve lines, its writing style follows the three-character rule that is popular among other educational Chinese classics, such as "Three Character Classic" and "Standards for being a Good Pupil and Child", then it expands to the four-character rule of Chinese idioms, also known as Chengyu. Usually accompanying the scripture are examples of those who have benefited from the scripture.