Si Shu Wu Jing (Four Books and Five Classics)
Si Shu Wu Jing or the Four Books and Five Classics is a collective term for ancient Chinese Confucian classics. Comprising the "Books" series and the "Classics" series, these works contain detailed historical documents covering politics, military affairs, diplomacy and culture as well as ideas of thinkers like Confucius and Mencius, thereby serving as an important guide to Confucian philosophy.
The classics series originally consisted of Six Classics passed down from ancient times. Confucius (c. 551-579 B.C.) and his disciples edited and compiled them. Later, one of the classics, Yue (Records of Music), was lost, so only five now remain. They are: Shijing (Book of Songs), the first anthology of Chinese poetry; Shangshu (Classic of History), a collection of documentary records of events in China's ancient history; Liji (Book of Rites), a record of social norms and rites in ancient times; Yijing (Book of Changes), an explanation of how the ancestors explored the universe and human world through divination; and Chunqiu (the Spring and Autumn Annals), a historical book that offers insightful political wisdom via the official chronicle of the State of Lu back in the Spring and Autumn Period (c. 770-476 B.C.). During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wudi (156?-87 B.C.) designated Confucianism as the official guiding principles, so the Five Classics became an important basis for the government to recruit talent, formulate policies, and educate the people.
The Four Books refer to the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean. the Analects and the Mencius mainly record ideas attributed to Confucius and Mencius and stories about them. the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean were originally two chapters from Liji (Book of Rites), until Zhu Xi (1130-1200), an ancient Chinese thinker of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), extracted them and compiled them into the Four Books together with the Analects and the Mencius. Zhu Xi also compiled annotations and comments for the Four Books based on some excellent works of others. He saw the Four Books as the basics of Confucianism and could serve as the step ladder to study the Five Classics.
The Four Books and the Five Classics were essential readings for the intellectual elite, and the ideas promoted therein constituted the philosophy of government throughout China's ancient period, exerting a profound influence on the development of Chinese society and culture. As an essential component of traditional Chinese culture, this collection occupies an important place in world history and remains an important reference source for understanding traditional Chinese thought and culture.
四书五经
四书五经是中国古代儒家典籍的统称，包含“四书”和“五经”两个经典系统，详细记载了中国古代早期思想文化发展史上政治、军事、外交、文化等各方面的史实资料以及孔子、孟子等思想家的哲学思想，成为儒家思想的重要载体。
“五经”原本为“六经”，是六种上古时代流传下来的典籍，孔子（约前551—前479）及弟子等曾对其进行修订整理，因此成为儒家典籍。后来因《乐》亡佚，成为“五经”，它们分别是：《诗经》，中国最早的诗歌总集；《尚书》，是上古时代历史文献的汇总；《礼记》，记载了古代的制度和礼仪规范；《易经》，阐释了古人通过占卜探究宇宙和人事的方法；《春秋》，通过评价春秋时期以鲁国为中心的历史展现出深邃的政治智慧。西汉时期，汉武帝将儒家思想定为官方统治思想，“五经”成为当时政府选拔人才、制定政策、教化人民的重要依据。
“四书”指《论语》《孟子》《大学》《中庸》四种儒家典籍。《论语》《孟子》主要记载孔子、孟子的言行思想。《大学》《中庸》原本是《礼记》中的两篇，被宋代思想家朱熹提出来，与《论语》《孟子》并称“四书”。朱熹博采众长， 为《四书》作了集注，他认为“四书”是儒学之根基，“五经”之阶梯。
在古代，四书五经是封建统治者治理国家的重要依据，也是每个知识精英的必读书，因此对中国社会和文化的发展产生了深远影响。四书五经作为中国传统文化的重要组成部分，在世界思想史、文化史上具有极高地位，在当代仍然是了解中国传统思想文化的重要书目。