Five Classics

The Five Classics are five texts traditionally regarded as foundational works of Confucian learning: the Classic of Poetry, Documents, Changes, Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals.

Classic of Poetry: An anthology of early Chinese poems, songs, and hymns traditionally counted among the Five Classics. It supplies the collection’s poetic voice and one of its five canonical texts.
Confucius: A Chinese teacher and thinker whose teachings shaped later Confucian traditions. Tradition associated him with the editing or transmission of several classics.
Chinese imperial examination: A system of competitive examinations used to select officials in imperial China. Knowledge of the classics became central to the examination curriculum.
Classical Chinese: The written language used in much of premodern Chinese literature and scholarship. The classics became enduring models for its style and scholarly interpretation.
Classic of Documents: A collection of speeches, proclamations, and records attributed to early Chinese rulers and officials. Its political speeches and records form another of the five foundational texts.
Han dynasty: A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE. Han scholars and courts established the classics as central objects of state learning.
Four Books: A later Confucian canon of four works promoted as an introductory curriculum during the Song dynasty. The Four Books eventually displaced the Five Classics as the primary examination texts.
Chinese classics: The inherited body of authoritative literary, historical, and philosophical works in China. The Five Classics are a foundational subset of this larger textual tradition.
Classic of Changes: A Chinese divination text organized around hexagrams and commentaries on change. It contributes the divinatory and cosmological strand of the canon.
Wujing boshi: Imperial academicians appointed in the Han dynasty to teach the Five Classics. These specialists institutionalized study of the five-text canon.

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