The Four Books and the Five Classics
四书五经
The Four Books and The Five Classics were the canonical works of the Confucian culture in the feudal society in ancient China. The Four Books refers to The Great Learning，The doctrine of the Mean，Confucian Analects and The Works of Mencius. And the five Classics includes The Book of Poetry (also known as The Book of Songs，The Book of Odes)，The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annals. The Five classics got its name during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty, and there emerged a group of scholars responsible for the interpretation of these classics. The Spring and Autumn Annals is a canonical book of history which，in fact, is a combination of cannon and history. Later on, interpretations of this important annals also became influential ,collected in The three Commentaries. The Commentary of Zuo focuses on history itself while The Commentaries of Gongyang and Guliang concentrate on comments on historical events. In short, all of them are valuable materials for the study of the political，cultural，and academic histories of China.
四书五经是儒家文化在中国古代封建社会的典范作品。四书是：《大学》，《中庸》，《论语》，《孟子》。而五经包括：《诗经》，《尚书》，《仪礼》，《周易》，《春秋》。五经在汉武帝在位期间非常闻名，并涌现出一批负责对这些经典解释的学者。春秋是历史的经典书，其实是大炮和历史的结合。后来，这一重要史册的解释也变得很有影响力，收集在三评中。《左传》的评论重点在对历史本身，而《公羊传》和《谷梁传》专注于对历史事件的评论。总之，它们是对中国的政治，文化和学术史研究的重要材料。
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