Overview of The Book of Songs The Book of Songs is the first collection of poems in China, with a total of 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty (1 1 century) to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (6th century BC) (there are also 6 poems of sound, which are not counted). It was originally called The Book of Songs and was regarded as a classic by Confucianism in the Han Dynasty. The Book of Songs is divided into three parts: style, elegance and ode. Feng includes,, Feng Li, Feng Li,, Zheng Feng,,, tang style, Qin Feng, Martin and Feng Li. Elegance includes 3 articles of Elegance1and 74 articles of Xiaoya. Ode includes thirty-one Zhou Song, five Shang Odes and four Truffles. These poems, in terms of their original nature, are the lyrics of songs. Mozi Meng Gong said, "There are 300 ode poems, 300 string poems, 300 song poems and 300 dance poems." It means that there are more than 300 poems, all of which can be recited, played with musical instruments, sung and accompanied by dances. "Historical Records Confucius Family" also said: "Three hundred and fifty poems were written by Confucius, in order to combine Shao, Wu, elegance and praise." Although these statements are still possible to be discussed, there is no doubt that the Book of Songs was closely related to music and dance in ancient times. The division of style, elegance and fu is based on the difference of music. "Wind" is music with local color relative to the "Wang Ji" directly ruled by the Zhou Dynasty. The Tenth Five-Year Plan "National Wind" is a folk song in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. Its region, except Jiang, Han and Rushui, originated in the Yellow River Basin from Shaanxi to Shandong. Elegance is the joy of "Ji Wang", and Zhou people in this area call it "Xia". "Ya" and "Xia" were commonly used in ancient times. Elegance also means "positive". At that time, Ji Wang's music was regarded as a positive tone-a model music. There are different opinions about the difference between "Elegance" and "Xiaoya", and their musical characteristics and applicable occasions are also different. Ode is a kind of music dedicated to offering sacrifices to ancestral temples. "Preface to Mao Poetry" said: "The description of the beauty and virtue of the eulogists tells the gods of their merits. "This is the meaning and use of ode. Wang Guowei said: "Praise is slower than elegance. "This is the characteristic of his music. The composition of the authors of The Book of Songs is very complicated, and their geographical sources are also very extensive. In addition to the music songs produced by music officials in the Zhou Dynasty and presented by officials and scholars, there are many folk songs that were originally circulated among the people. There are different opinions about how these folk songs came to the court. Some scholars in the Han Dynasty believed that the Zhou Dynasty sent special poets to collect folk songs and understand the advantages and disadvantages of politics and customs. There is another saying: these folk songs are collected by musicians all over the world. Musicians are officials and experts in charge of music. They compose poems as their profession and collect folk songs to enrich lyrics and tunes. The pleasure of princes is dedicated to the emperor, and these folk songs are gathered in the court. These statements all have some truth. Music songs collected from various periods and regions are generally considered to be preserved in the music officer of the Zhou royal family-Taishi. They obviously processed, eliminated and modified those works with different faces. Therefore, the existing language forms of The Book of Songs are basically four-character, and the rhyme system and rhyme rules are basically the same. Some sets of sentences (such as Son of Another Family and Wang Shimi) have appeared in works of different times and places. In ancient times, the transportation was inconvenient and the language was different. The ballads of various times and regions could not have happened if they were not processed. It can be considered that the official production of music songs and the collection and arrangement of folk music songs are one of the cultural undertakings of the Zhou Dynasty, and they were continuously carried out in the era of The Book of Songs. Historical Records Confucius Family said that there were more than 3,000 poems, which were deleted and selected by Confucius and became the final version of more than 300 poems seen by later generations. This record has been widely questioned. A poem quoted in pre-Qin literature is generally within the scope of the existing Book of Songs, and there are few so-called "escape poems" beyond it. If Confucius had more than 3,000 poems before, this would not have happened. Moreover, in the Analects of Confucius, Confucius repeatedly mentioned "three hundred poems" (Kevin·Z, Lutz, etc. ), which proves that Confucius has read more than 300 poems, which is similar to what he has seen now. Most importantly, The Book of Songs was compiled before Confucius was born, about the sixth century BC. It's just that Confucius did put a lot of effort into the Book of Songs. Confucius said in the Analects of Confucius: "I went back to Shandong, and then I was happy and elegant." "The words in the historical records quoted above also say so. This shows that in the era of Confucius, the music of The Book of Songs has been lost and disordered, and Confucius revised it to make it conform to the original state of ancient music. He also used the Book of Songs to educate students, often discussing the Book of Songs with them and playing songs and dances (see The Analects of Confucius and Mo Zi Fei Ru). All these have played an important role in the spread of The Book of Songs. The music songs in The Book of Songs were originally used as part of various ceremonies to entertain and express views on social and political issues. But in the end, The Book of Songs has become a cultural textbook widely used in aristocratic education, and learning the Book of Songs has become a necessary cultural accomplishment for aristocratic people. On the one hand, this kind of education has the function of beautifying language, especially in diplomatic occasions, it is often necessary to quote poems from the Book of Songs to express meaning in twists and turns. This is called "Fu Shi Yan Zhi", and its specific situation is recorded in Zuo Zhuan. The Analects of Confucius recorded Confucius' words: "If you don't learn poetry, you have nothing to say." "Reciting 300 Poems, teaching them as politics, is unattainable; Let it be everywhere, but not exclusive. Even if there are many, do you still think? " It can be seen how important it is to learn the Book of Songs for the upper class and those who are ready to enter the upper class. On the other hand, the education of The Book of Songs also has political and moral significance. The Book of Rites quoted Confucius as saying that after "poetry teaching", people can be "gentle and sincere". The Analects of Confucius recorded the words of Confucius, saying that learning poetry can "serve the monarch from afar and the father from the monarch", that is, learning to serve the monarch and the elders. According to Confucius' opinion (which should also be the opinion of ordinary people in the upper class at that time), "there are 300 poems. In a word, it says: the thought is innocent. " This means that all the works in the Book of Songs (or at least on the whole) are in line with the moral principles recognized by the society at that time. Otherwise, it cannot be used for "education". There are two points worth noting here: first, according to Confucius' theory, people's views on the Book of Songs at that time were quite broad. Many poems that condemn the dark rule and express the love between men and women can still be considered "innocent" as long as they do not exceed a certain limit, that is, legitimate emotional expression. Second, despite this, the Book of Songs is not a simple collection of poems after all. It is not only the cultural accumulation of the Zhou Dynasty, but also the object of daily chanting by the nobles. Therefore, although there are many folk songs in it, I'm afraid it can't contain the content that directly conflicts with the socially recognized political and moral principles. All Confucian classics, including The Book of Songs, were burned in the Qin Dynasty. However, because the Book of Songs is easy to remember and familiar to scholars, it spread in the Han Dynasty. There are four schools of * * * who taught the Book of Songs in the early Han Dynasty, namely, Qi Zhiyuan's drums, Lu Pei, Yan Zhiyi's Han Ying, Zhao Zhimao Heng, and Qi's, Lu's and four schools for short (the first two schools are named after the country, while the last two schools are named after the family). The Confucian Classics of Qi, Lu and Han schools are officially recognized schools, and Mao's poems belong to the Confucian Classics of Ancient Chinese, which is a folk school. However, after the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mao's poems became increasingly prosperous and gained official recognition. The first three schools gradually declined, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, they were completely lost. The Book of Songs that we saw today is a biography of the Mao School.