The Book of Songs is the earliest collection of poems in China. In the pre-Qin period, it was called "Poetry", also known as "Poetry 300" or "Poetry 300". It collected 305 poems from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was honored as a Confucian classic, formerly known as The Book of Songs, which has been in use ever since. However, there is still controversy about the editor of The Book of Songs. Traditionally, Confucius compiled the Book of Songs, which had a great influence on its dissemination. Sima Qian first put forward the theory that Confucius deleted poems. "Historical Records Confucius Family" Note: "As for Confucius, there are more than 3,000 poems written by the ancients, which can be applied to propriety and righteousness, and can be applied to Hou Ji, describing the prosperity of Yin and Zhou Dynasties and endless seclusion ... 350 poems written by Confucius are all string songs." From the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, scholars and related historical books were convinced of this and supplemented and explained it to varying degrees. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Confucius began to suspect that "there are many poems cited in the book biography, and there are few who escape", which means that "what Confucius wrote cannot be ignored. More than 3,000 ancient poems written by Ma are not credible "("Zheng Yishu "). This theory first denied Confucius' theory of deleting poems. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have been different opinions.
The famous figures who support the theory of deleting poems are Ouyang Xiu, Cheng Hao, Ma Duanlin, Gu, Zhao Tan, Wang Hao and others. The main arguments against deleting poems are Zhu, Ye Shi, Zhu Yizun, Wang Shizhen, Zhao Yi, Wei Yuanfang Yurun and so on. The main opponents of modern times are Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, Gu Jiegang and Qian. Contemporary scholars of The Book of Songs basically disagree with Confucius' view of "deleting poems".
Judging from the newly unearthed bamboo slips and silk books, the spread of The Book of Songs is far more complicated than we originally thought. Admittedly, Confucius was not the only one who sorted out the Book of Songs, but on the other hand, he was undoubtedly a very important organizer. So, if you ask who is the editor of The Book of Songs? It's hard to say whether we are Confucius or officials collecting poems in the Zhou Dynasty. I think we might as well answer that the editors of The Book of Songs, including Confucius, passed through many hands from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Confucius was only a very important representative. Because please note that the book written at that time was different from the book we are writing now. The formation of ancient books often takes a long time, which is normal and not achieved overnight.