The Jijiupian 急就篇 "Quick access [to characters]" is a kind of character textbook from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) written by Shi You 史游. It is the only book of this type surviving. Others like Cangjiepian 倉頡篇, Xunzuanpian 訓纂篇, Fanjiangpiang 凡將篇 or Pangxipian 滂喜篇 are long since lost. The characters are learned through a rhyme system in which sentences of three, four or seven syllables or words are learned. The words to be learned are arranged in semantic groups which makes it easier to cover certain fields of characters to be learned. For learning the characters were written in a triangle shape, at top small and then downward becoming larger. The Jijiupian was also used for calligraphic purposes, to train different styles of characters, like the lishu 隸書, zhangshu 章書 or caoshu 草書 scripts. Even famous calligraphers like Wang Xizhi 王羲之 or Zhao Mengfu 趙孟頫 therefore calligraphed the textbook, and this is also a reason why it is preserved. The Tang period 唐 (618-907) scholar Yan Shigu 顏師固 and the Song period 宋 (960-1279) scholar Wang Yinglin 王應麟 have written commentaries to the Jijiupian. It is included in the collectanea Xiaoxue huihan 小學彙函 and Xuejin taoyuan 學津討原.
Source: Zhou Zumo 周祖謨 (1988). "Jijiupian 急就篇", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Yuyan wenzi 語言文字, p. 219. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.