The source of poetry is that ballads come from the "Book of Songs"
The "Book of Songs" is the beginning of ancient Chinese poetry. It is the earliest collection of poems and collects poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. (from the 11th century BC to the 6th century BC), there are a total of 311 poems, 6 of which are Sheng poems, that is, they only have titles and no content. They are called the six Sheng poems ("Nanbei", "Baihua", "Hua Millet"). ""You Geng", "Chongqiu" and "Youyi"), reflect the social outlook of about five hundred years from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty to the late Zhou Dynasty.
The author of "The Book of Songs" is unknown, and most of it cannot be verified. It is said that it was collected by Yin Jifu and compiled by Confucius. The Book of Songs was called "The Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin period, or the round number was called "The Three Hundred Songs". It was revered as a Confucian classic during the Western Han Dynasty and was first called the Book of Songs, which is still in use today. The Book of Songs is divided into three parts: "Wind", "Ya" and "Song". In terms of technique, it is divided into "Fu", "Bi" and "Xing".
"Wind" is a ballad from various places in the Zhou Dynasty; "Ya" is the formal song of the Zhou people, and is divided into "Xiaoya" and "Daya"; "Song" is a song worshiped by the Zhou royal court and aristocratic temples Music songs are divided into "Songs of Zhou", "Songs of Lu" and "Songs of Shang". Confucius once summarized the purpose of the "Book of Songs" as "innocence" and taught his disciples to read the "Book of Songs" as the standard for establishing words and actions. Among the pre-Qin scholars, many quoted the Book of Songs, such as Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, etc. in their reasoning and argumentation
They often quoted sentences from the Book of Songs to enhance their persuasiveness . By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Book of Songs was regarded as a classic by Confucianists and became one of the Six Classics and the Five Classics. The Book of Songs is rich in content, reflecting labor and love, war and corvee, oppression and resistance, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and banquets, and even celestial phenomena, landforms, animals, plants and other aspects. It is a mirror of social life in the Zhou Dynasty.