天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒 The sky was black and the earth was yellow. The universe was vast and a dark whole.
日月盈昃 辰宿列張 The sun rises and sets and the moon is regularly round. Stars spread high above without a toll.
寒來暑往 秋收冬藏 Winter and summer come and go. People welcome fall harvest and winter storing.
閏餘成歲 律召調陽 Intercalary days and months are fixed to make a year. Plants follow the rhyme of nature.
雲騰致雨 露結為霜 When clouds rise and become rain. When dew drops congeal and become frost.
金生麗水 玉出崑崗 Gold is found in the Li River. Jade is found in the Kunlun Mountains.
劍號巨闕 珠稱夜光 Sword named giant gate pearl called night light
果珍李柰 菜重芥薑 Plum and apple are among best fruits. Mustard and ginger are considered most valuable vegetables.
海鹹河淡 鱗潛羽翔 Sea water is salty while river water is fresh, Fishes swim in water while birds fly in the air.
龍師火帝 鳥官人皇 Longshi, Huodi, Niaoguan and Renhuang, as legend goes, were celebrities of China's remote ages.
始製文字 乃服衣裳 Chinese characters were just created. Clothes were began to be made.
推位讓國 有虞陶唐 Good emperors like Yao and Shun, they abdicated willingly.
吊民伐罪 周發殷湯 The Zhou Dynasty's Wu and the Shang Dynasty' s Tang were the emperors who loved common
people and punished criminals severely
坐朝問道 垂拱平章 A wise emperor often consulted his good officials to rule his country fairly in peace.
愛育黎首 臣伏戎羌 He loved his subjects and tended the multitude. Barbarians like Rong and Qiang could be ruled
with ease.
遐邇壹體 率賓歸王 Places far and near come to be under one ruler. People voluntarily submitted to the emperor.
鳴鳳在竹 白駒食場 Phoenixes are singing merrily among bamboos. White colts are gazing on grassland.
化被草木 賴及萬方 The grace of a virtuous monarch will nourish grass and trees, and benefit the whole empire on
many hands.
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His ancestors moved to Gu Shu in Jiang Nan (present day Dang Tu County, An Hui Province) to excavate rocks when Emperor Yong-Jia of West Jin Dynasty moved the capital to the south. They stayed in Bao Ji Mountain. When Zhou turned thirteen, he traveled and studied in Jian Kang (present day Nanking). During Emperor Wu of Liang’s reign, Zhou wrote ‘Stop War Start Peace’ and received recognition. He was assigned a post in the government. In 515, he got another post in Lin Chuan. He died of illness in 521. He had written ‘Emperor Biography’, ‘Emperor’s Ethic’, ‘Daily Life’, ‘Conducts of Professions’ and many more, most notably ‘Thousand Character Classic’. History had it that Zhou’s hair turned white overnight and his famous ‘Thousand Character Class’ has been praised and passed down for generations. 
