The four books refer to The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, University and The Doctrine of the Mean. The Five Classics refer to The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Book of Rites, Zhouyi and Chunqiu, which are referred to as "Poems, Books, Rites, Changes and Chunqiu" for short.
Before that, there was a book "Yue Ji" called "Poems, Books, Rites, Music, I Ching, Spring and Autumn". These six books are also called "Six Classics". Later, Yue Ji was lost, leaving only the Five Classics. The Four Books and Five Classics are the basic bibliography of Confucianism after the Southern Song Dynasty, and they are also required books for Confucian students.
Extended data
social influence
positive impact
(1) Politics: The imperial examination system improved the employment system and gave talented scholars the opportunity to serve in governments at all levels.
(2) Education and social atmosphere: The imperial examination system promoted the development of education, and the atmosphere of scholars studying hard prevailed.
(3) Literature and art: The imperial examination system also promoted the development of culture and art, and Jinshi paid attention to the examination of poetry and fu, which was of great benefit to the prosperity of Tang poetry.
negative impact
The later imperial examination system made Confucianism a tool for rulers to enslave their subjects; The bureaucratic ranks have grown, but the talents engaged in scientific and technological research are relatively weak.
Because the rulers changed the content of the examination, the imperial examination became a shackle that bound the intellectuals' thoughts. Ming Taizu officially designated stereotyped writing originated in Yuan Dynasty as the imperial examination style. This style is composed of the following paragraphs: breaking the topic, accepting the topic, beginning, starting, pulling up, pulling up in the middle, pulling up later and pulling up. There are two opposite words in the last four paragraphs, which are * * * eight-part essays, so they are called eight-part essays.
Because of the single way of being an official, only those who pass the imperial examination can be an official, and many people have the idea that being an official can make a fortune, which leads to the abnormal values of some scholars who pursue being an official, thus giving birth to some family and social tragedies.
Baidu encyclopedia-imperial examination