China’s Covid-19 Three Character Classic Propaganda

Song Dynasty Children’s literature + Communist propaganda + global pandemic = today’s discussion. Last week, we talked about the Three Character Classic (三字經). It is a work of probably Song Dynasty children’s literature that functioned as many young Chinese children’s first Confucian text to memorize. The book is written with three Chinese characters in each line, making for a form that is both very rhythmic and very easy to memorize. Well, imagine that…but in the service of keeping people safe during the COVID-19 outbreak?