Brief introduction of China's ancient masterpieces.

The Doctrine of the Mean is a monograph of China's ancient moral philosophy on the realm of life accomplishment, and it is one of the Confucian classics. Originally the thirty-first chapter of the Book of Rites, it was said that it was written by Zi Si during the Warring States Period.

Its content affirms that "the golden mean" is the highest standard of moral behavior, regards "sincerity" as the noumenon of the world, thinks that "sincerity" reaches the highest realm of life, and puts forward the learning process and cognitive methods of "erudition, questioning, deliberation, discernment and perseverance".

It was extracted from the Book of Rites in the Song Dynasty and merged with Daxue, Analects of Confucius and Mencius into four books. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it became an official textbook, and the imperial examination was compulsory, which had a great influence on the ancient education and society in China.

Its main annotations include Cheng Hao's The Doctrine of the Mean, Cheng Yi's Interpretation of the Doctrine of the Mean, Zhu's Chapters of the Doctrine of the Mean, Li Yong's Biography of the Doctrine of the Mean, Dai Zhen's Supplementary Notes on the Doctrine of the Mean, Kang Youwei's Notes on the Doctrine of the Mean, Ma Qichang's Friends of the Doctrine of the Mean and Hu's Brief Comments on the Doctrine of the Mean.

2. Spring and Autumn Annals

The Spring and Autumn Annals, also known as Lin Jing or Lin Shi, is one of the six Confucian classics in ancient China. It is also the national history of Lu in the Zhou Dynasty, and the existing version was revised by Confucius.

Spring and Autumn Annals is the first chronological history book in China, with a total of 35 volumes. It is one of the Confucian classics and the longest of the Thirteen Classics. It is listed as a classic in Sikuquanshu. It covers the period from 722 BC (Lu Yinnian) to 479 BC (16th year of Lu Aigong).

The language of events recorded in Chunqiu is extremely concise, but almost every sentence implies praise and criticism, which is called "Chunqiu brushwork" and "subtle meaning" by later generations.

Later, there appeared many books that supplemented, explained and expounded the history recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals, which were called Biography. Representative works include Zuo Zhuan, Ram Zhuan and Gu Liangzhuan, which are collectively called the three great biographies of the Spring and Autumn Period.

From 2065438 to February 2009, it was reported that more than 5,200 bamboo slips were unearthed from Houhai Tomb. After interpretation by experts, Confucian classics including Chunqiu and its exegesis were discovered.

3. Purple Tongzhi scissors

Zi Tong Zhi Jian (often referred to as Tong Jian) is a multi-volume chronological history book edited by Sima Guang in the Northern Song Dynasty, with a total of 294 volumes, which took 19 years to complete.

Mainly based on time and events, it began in the 23rd year of Zhou Weilie (403 BC) and ended in the 6th year of Xiande, Zhou Shizong after the Five Dynasties (959 AD), covering the history of 16 dynasties and 1362 years.

In this book, the editor summed up many experiences and lessons for the rulers to learn from. Song Shenzong thinks that this book is "in view of the past, it has the resources for governance", that is, to strengthen the rule by taking historical gains and losses as a warning, so it is named "Managing with Capital". Zitongzhijian has 294 volumes, about 3 million words, and Kaoyi and Catalogue have 30 volumes.

4. Historical records

Historical Records, formerly known as Taishigong or Taishigong Gong Ji and Taishigong Historical Records, is a biographical historical book written by Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty. It is the first biographical general history in the history of China, recording the history of four years and more than 3,000 years from the legendary Huangdi era to Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty.

In the first year of Taichu (BC 104), Sima Qian began to create Taishi Gongshu, later called Shiji. This book was used for 14 years before and after completion.

Historical Records includes twelve biographies (recording the political achievements of emperors in past dynasties), thirty biographies (recording the rise and fall of vassal states and governors in Han Dynasty), seventy biographies (recording the words and deeds of important people, mainly describing the characters and ministers, and the last one is the preface), ten tables (chronology of major events) and eight books (recording various laws and regulations, such as etiquette, music, temperament, calendar, astronomy, etc.).

There are * * * 130 historical books with more than 526,500 words, which is more than 395,000 words in Huainanzi and 288,000 words in Lv Chunqiu. Historical Records has a huge scale and a complete system, which has a far-reaching impact on the biographical history books of later generations. The official history of past dynasties was written in this genre.

Historical Records is listed as the first of the "twenty-four histories", and it is also called the "first four histories" with the later Hanshu, Houhanshu and the History of the Three Kingdoms, which has had a far-reaching impact on the development of later historiography and literature.

His original biographical method of compiling history was passed down by the "official history" of later generations. Historical Records is also an excellent literary work, which occupies an important position in the history of China literature. It is praised by Lu Xun as "a historian's swan song, and Li Sao has no rhyme", which has high literary value. Liu Xiang and others think that this book is "good in order and reason, argumentative but not flashy, qualitative but not vulgar".

5. The Book of Songs

The Book of Songs is the earliest collection of ancient Chinese poems, which collected poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (1 1 century to the 6th century), including ***3 1 1 first.

Six of them are Sheng poems, that is, they have only titles but no contents, and they are collectively called six Sheng poems (Nan Chang, Bai Hua, Shu Hua, You Geng, Qiu Chong and You Yi), which reflect the social outlook of about 500 years from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty to the weekend.

The author of The Book of Songs is anonymous, and most of them cannot be verified. They were collected by Yin Jifu and edited by Confucius. In the pre-Qin period, the Book of Songs was called "The Book of Songs", or it was called "The Book of Songs 300" by integers.

In the Western Han Dynasty, it was honored as a Confucian classic, formerly known as The Book of Songs, which has been in use ever since. The Book of Songs is divided into three parts: style, elegance and ode. "Wind" is a ballad of Zhou Dynasty.

Elegant music is the official music of Zhou people, which is divided into harmony and elegance. Ode is a musical song used for sacrificial rites in Zhou and noble ancestral temples, which is divided into ode to, and ode to Shang.

Confucius once summarized the purpose of the Book of Songs as "innocence" and educated his disciples to read the Book of Songs as their standard of speech and action. Among the pre-Qin philosophers, many people quoted The Book of Songs, such as Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi, Zhuangzi and Han Feizi. Quote the sentences in the Book of Songs to enhance your persuasiveness.

By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, The Book of Songs was regarded as a classic by Confucianism and became one of the six classics and five classics.

The Book of Songs is rich in content, reflecting labor and love, war and corvee, oppression and resistance, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and feasting, and even astronomical phenomena, landforms, animals and plants. It is a mirror of the social life of the Zhou Dynasty.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Ancient Books of Literature and History