In the Yuan Dynasty, it was officially stipulated that the concepts of Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism should be used as the correct answer in the imperial examinations, and the importance of the Four Books further increased. Later, due to the large number of imperial examinations Questions are asked in the Four Books, and there are relatively few questions in the Five Classics. So later on, many people simply read the Four Books and basically stopped reading the Five Classics.
If you are interested in these questions, I suggest you go to them. Several books:
1\Yang Boxun's "A Brief Talk on Classics" Zhonghua Book Company.
2\Jiang Boxian's "Confucian Classics and Confucian Studies" Shanghai Bookstore.
3\Xia Chuancai
4\Zhu Weizheng's "Ten Lectures on Chinese Classics" Fudan University Press
5\Zhou Yutong
■Confucius lost his father when he was 3 years old. He moved to Queli with his mother Yan Zheng and was taught by her. When Confucius was a child, he "often laid out beans and set up rituals for his children to play". His family was poor when he was young, and he determined to study at the age of 15. When he grew up, he worked as a "commissioner" in charge of warehouses and as a "Chengtian" in charge of cattle and sheep. He was open-minded and eager to learn, and he learned from impermanent teachers. According to legend, he once asked for courtesy from Lao Dan, learned music from Chang Hong, and learned piano from Shi Xiang. At the age of 30, he was already erudite and became a well-known scholar in the local area. He also accepted and taught apprentices in the palace, creating the first private school. The core of his ideology is "benevolence", which means "loving others". He regarded "benevolence" as the norm and purpose of benevolence, making "benevolence" and "propriety" mutually useful. He advocated that the ruler should "treat the people with virtue and harmonize them with propriety", thereby recreating the prosperous age of the Western Zhou Dynasty when "the conquest of rituals and music originated from the emperor", and then realizing the ideal of "Great Harmony" that he yearned for.
■When Confucius was 35 years old, he went to Qi due to civil strife in Lu. In order to get close to Qi Jinggong, he became a retainer of Gao Zhaozi, a nobleman of Qi State. The following year, Duke Jinggong of Qi asked Confucius about political affairs. Confucius said: "The king should be like the king, the ministers should be like ministers, the father should be like father, and the son should be like son." Jinggong appreciated it very much and wanted to appoint Confucius, but Yan Ying, the Prime Minister of Qi, blocked it, so Give up. Soon after he was about to take up his post, he returned to Lu and continued to study knowledge and train disciples. At the age of 51, he was appointed as the governor of Lu state (now the magistrate of Shangxi in Wenzhou).
Because of his good governance, "one year, all directions are governed". At the age of 52, he was promoted from Zhongdu Prime Minister to Sikong and Da Sikou of Lu State. In 500 BC (the 10th year of Duke Dinggong of Lu), at the meeting between Lu and Qi in Jiagu, Confucius proposed that "those who have civil affairs must have military preparations, and those who have military affairs must have civil preparations." Jinggong of Qi wanted to threaten Lu Jun into submission, but Confucius rebuked Jinggong with etiquette and preserved the national integrity, so that the Marquis of Qi had to agree to make an alliance and make peace, and return Yun and Guiyin to Lu. When Confucius was 54 years old, he was entrusted by Ji Huanzi to take photos of ministers. In order to improve the authority of the monarch, he proposed the idea of ??"destroying the three capitals" and suppressing the three Huan (officials of the three Lu families). However, he was opposed by the officials of the three families and failed. At the age of 55, the kings and ministers of the state of Lu accepted the beauties presented by the state of Qi, and were infatuated with sensuality all day long. Confucius was greatly disappointed, so he abandoned his official position and left Lu. He led his disciples to travel around the country, looking for other opportunities to display their talents. During this period, he "worked for more than seventy kings" but found none. In 484 BC (the eleventh year of Duke Ai of Lu), Ji Kangzi of Lu State listened to the persuasion of Ran You, a disciple of Confucius, and sent someone to welcome him back from Wei State.
■Confucius returned to the State of Lu. Although he was respected as an "old man of the country", he was still not allowed to be reused. He no longer sought an official position, but concentrated on continuing his work in education and documentation. He trained more than 3,000 disciples throughout his life, and 72 of them were proficient in the six arts (ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics). In the teaching practice, a set of educational theories have been summarized, such as teaching in accordance with aptitude, paying equal attention to learning and thinking, drawing inferences from one example, inspiring and inducing, and the teaching spirit of being tireless in learning and teaching, as well as "knowing what you know, not knowing what you don't know" and "not being ashamed to ask" His learning attitude was praised by future generations. He successively deleted "Poems" and "Books", revised "Li" and "Music", revised "Spring and Autumn", and comprehensively organized ancient Chinese documents. The old and fond of "Yi" has reached the level of "Three Excellent Works compiled by Wei".
■At the age of 69, his only son Kong Li passed away. At the age of 71, his favorite disciple Yan Hui died of illness. Confucius was extremely sad and lamented: "Heaven has mourned me! Heaven has mourned me!" In this year, someone captured a monster called Lin in the west of Lu State, and died soon after. He believed that the appearance and death of Qilin, which symbolized kindness and auspiciousness, was an ominous sign of chaos in the world, so he stopped compiling the Spring and Autumn Annals. When he was 72 years old, he suddenly learned that Zhongyou had died in a national disaster in Wei, and he was deeply saddened. In the second month of the lunar calendar the following year (479 BC), Confucius fell ill for 7 days and died.
■The main words and deeds of Confucius throughout his life were compiled into the book "The Analects" by his disciples and subsequent disciples, which became a classic of the Confucian school in later generations.
2. Introduction to Mencius
Mencius (372 BC - 289 BC), named Ke, was a native of Zou, State of Lu, in the middle of the Warring States Period. He was a disciple of Zisi (a grandson of Confucius), and he traveled to Song, Teng, Wei, Qi and other countries, expounding his political ideas, and also served as a minister in Qi. In his later years, he retired and wrote books, among which seven chapters of "Mencius" have been handed down. He was a representative of Confucianism in the mid-Warring States Period.
Mencius’ thought comes from Confucius. Mencius developed Confucius' "benevolence" into the theory of "benevolent government". He believes that to implement "benevolent government", it is necessary to "ensure the people have a constant output", so that each farmer has a hundred acres of land, a five-acre house, and the minimum means of production; "Don't take away the farming time" and ensure that farmers have time to work; " "Save penalties, reduce taxes and collect" so that the people have the lowest material living conditions; strengthen moral education so that the people understand the principles of "filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty and trust". Mencius saw the suffering of the people being exploited and oppressed by the feudal landlord class, and attempted to adopt these measures to ease class conflicts and consolidate the rule of the landlord class. However, it was still beneficial to the development of production. Connected with the theory of "benevolent government", Mencius also put forward the idea that "the people are more valuable than the emperor", saying: "The people are the most important, followed by the country, and the emperor is despised" ("Mencius? Try your best"). He believed that a monarch could only obtain and maintain a dominant position if he had the support of the people. Therefore, he advocated that the monarch should implement "benevolent government" and "share happiness" with the people. The people of the country can kill the king who harms the people. King Zhou of Shang Dynasty was a famous tyrant in history. King Wu attacked Zhou. He thought it was right to kill him and said: "I have heard that Zhou killed a man, but I have never heard of regicide" ("Mencius: King Hui of Liang"). Although Mencius sympathized with the people and condemned tyrants, his political thoughts still upheld the feudal system, so he also preached: "Those who work hard govern others, and those who work hard govern others. Those who govern others eat others, and those who govern others eat others." To people, it is the universal meaning of the world" ("Mencius and Duke Tengwen"). This view has long been the theoretical basis for defending the exploitative system.
3. "The Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" are the "Four Books", which were defined by Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The "Four Books" Zhu commented on were designated as the imperial examination books, starting from the second year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Yuan Dynasty (1313 AD).