What are the Four Books and Five Classics in ancient China?

The four books are the general names of the four works: Daxue, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius. It is said that they are called "Four Books" (also called "Four Books") because of the four representatives of early Confucianism, namely Zeng Shen, Zi Si, Confucius and Mencius. In the first year of South China (1 190), Zhu, a famous philosopher in the Southern Song Dynasty, produced two books, The Book of Rites, The University and The Doctrine of the Mean, which were combined with The Analects of Confucius and Mencius and published as a set of classics. The Confucian scholar believes that "go to college first to determine its scale; Read the Analects of Confucius for the second time to determine its roots; Read Mencius for the second time to see its development; When I read The Doctrine of the Mean, I once said that "Four Books and Five Classics, the Order of Six Classics" (Zhuzi) Zhu Zhu's annotation of Four Books and Chapters is of epoch-making significance. After the Song Dynasty, it was the Four Books era.

Five Classics

Originally six classics. Zhuangzi first named The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Book of Rites, Zhouyi, Jing Yue and Chunqiu as the Six Classics. Ban Gu called it "Six Arts" in History of Han Arts and Literature.

Among them, the Book of Rites was lost, and only one Book of Rites was preserved and compiled into the Book of Rites. So in the Han Dynasty, these five books were regarded as classics and called the Five Classics.

The Five Classics refer to Yi, Shangshu, Shi, Li and Chunqiu. In the fifth year of Jianyuan (BC 136), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the Doctor of Five Classics, which established the prominent position of Confucian Classics. Yi, also known as Zhouyi, includes two parts: classics and biographies. There are sixty-four hexagrams in the scripture, and each hexagram has six hexagrams. "Guaci" and "Yi Ci" are about 5,000 words, which may have been compiled in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is not only of great significance to understand the philosophy and social life of the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, but also preserves some quite precious historical materials of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The Book of Changes includes ten parts, such as copula and divination. Originally named "Ten Wings", it was explained by the Book of Changes written by people in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Shangshu is a compilation of imperial edicts, oaths and works depicting ancient historical sites in China. At first, it was only called book, and later it was divided into Xia, Shang and Zhou books, and then it was called Shangshu, which means the book of ancient times. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Shangshu died, and Dr. Qin was buried alone in Jinan City Wall. At the beginning of Han Dynasty, Fu Sheng asked for his books, 28 of which were handed down between Qilu and Qilu. This Book of History is based on the official script prevailing in Han Dynasty, so it is called "the history book in modern literature". In addition, there is a history of ancient literature in the Han Dynasty, which is said to be more than the history of modern prose 16. Poetry, also known as The Book of Songs. Qi, Lu and Han all taught this poem in the early Han Dynasty, and they were all scholars. Mao Gong also passed, but failed to stand. Later, three poems were lost, and Mao's poems were passed on alone, so the poems were also called Mao's poems. There are 305 songs today, each with a different era, from the early Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period. Poetry is not only of high artistic value, but also valuable information for understanding the social outlook of the pre-Qin period. "Li" refers to the "Li" in the Han Dynasty, and later refers to the Book of Rites. Yili is a compilation of etiquette systems in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Dai Deben, Dai Shengben and Liu Xiangbie were circulated in Han Dynasty. The Book of Rites is a Confucian interpretation of etiquette compiled by people in the Western Han Dynasty. It can be divided into two categories: small hat and big hat. Dai Sheng compiled 49 articles, Zheng Xuan noted, and Dade compiled 85 articles, named "Da Dai Li". Spring and Autumn Annals is a chronicle of Lu. It records historical events by year, hour, month and day, and Spring and Autumn represents the four seasons, hence the name Spring and Autumn. The existing Spring and Autumn Annals records the historical events of 242 years from the year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of Lu Aigong (48 BC1year). Although the sentences are short, they all have their own opinions and comments on the political events at that time. Later generations commented on it, including Zuo Zhuan, Yang Gongzhuan and Gu Liangzhuan.

Alias of the Five Classics: Tang Hanyu's "Xue Jie": "Poetry is as beautiful." Later it was called The Book of Songs. The Book of Changes is also called the Book of Changes. According to legend, Fuxi started gossip, hence the name "Xijing". The Book of Rites was compiled by two Western Han scholars, Dade (Dai) and Dai Sheng (Dai Xiao), hence the name Dai Jing. Therefore, the Spring and Autumn Period is called Lin Jing.