The Book of Songs is China's first collection of poems, which collected 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period. The pre-Qin people called The Book of Songs "Poetry", or "Poetry 300" or integer "Poetry 300". In the Western Han Dynasty, it was revered as a Confucian classic, called The Book of Songs, which is still in use today. The Book of Songs was written in the Spring and Autumn Period, and was taught by Qi (Shen Pei), Lu (Mao Heng), Han (Han Ying) and Mao (Zhao Renmao) in the Han Dynasty. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, Qi, Lu and Han were all lost, leaving only the Biography of Mao Poetry. Mao poetry prevailed after the Eastern Han Dynasty and has been passed down to this day.
Important annotations include: Ma's Justice of Mao Poetry in Qing Dynasty, His Biography of Mao Poetry in Qing Dynasty, His Biography of Mao Poetry, His Annotation of the Book of Songs, His Selected Translation of the Book of Songs and Zhao Que's The Book of Songs.
It is said that there were as many as 3,000 poems handed down in the Spring and Autumn Period, and now only 3 1 1 is left (including six poems by Nan Chang, Bai Hua, Shu Hua, You Geng, Qiu Chong and You Yi), which was later called "300 poems" for convenience. Among Confucius' disciples, Xia Zi had the deepest understanding of poetry, so he passed it on. There were three poets in the early Han Dynasty, namely Shen Peigong of Lu, Gu Sheng of Qi and Han Ying of Yan. Qi's poems died in Wei Dynasty, Lu's poems died in the Western Jin Dynasty, and Han's poems still exist in the Tang Dynasty, but now only 10 volume exists. As for the book of songs that is circulated in the world today, it is Mao Gong's poem (Big Mao Gong: Mao Heng, Little Mao Gong: Scapharca).