What are the "Four Books" in ancient China?

It refers to Daxue, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Shili, Zhouyi and Chunqiu.

The Four Books and the Five Classics are the collective names of the four books and the Five Classics, and the four books refer to The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius. The Five Classics refers to the Book of Songs, Shangshu, Shili, Zhouyi and Chunqiu. Generally refers to Confucian classics. The names of the Four Books began in the Song Dynasty, and the names of the Five Classics began in Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The Four Books and Five Classics recorded the historical data of politics, military affairs, diplomacy, culture and other aspects in the history of early ideological and cultural development in China, as well as the important thoughts of thinkers such as Confucius and Mencius.

"Four Books and Five Classics" is an important part of China's traditional culture, the core carrier of Confucianism, and the treasure of China's historical and cultural ancient books. Its content is extremely extensive and profound, and it has a very high position in the history of world culture and thought. Today, the contents and philosophical thoughts contained in the Four Books and Five Classics still have positive significance and strong reference value for us modern people.

Extended information

In fact, there should have been six classics and a Book of Music. The name of the six classics first appeared in the words of Confucius in the Book of Rites and Classic Interpretation, and also in Zhuangzi's book, which was also confirmed in Guodian bamboo slips. Yue Jing and the other five classics were called "poetry, calligraphy, ceremony, music, Yi, Spring and Autumn Period". Later, the book was burned in the Qin Dynasty, and the Yue Jing was lost. Only one piece of Yue Ji was incorporated into the Book of Rites, and then only the Five Classics was said.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Books and Five Classics