The authorship of The Book of Songs is very complex, and its origin is also very wide. In addition to the songs produced by the music officials of the Zhou Dynasty and the songs presented by officials and scholars, there are also many ballads that were originally circulated among the people. There are different accounts of how these folk songs came to the imperial court. Some scholars in the Han Dynasty believe that the Zhou Dynasty sent special poets to collect folk songs to understand the pros and cons of politics and customs; another theory is that these folk songs were collected by musicians from various countries. Musicians are officials and experts in charge of music. They make singing and composing music as their profession. They collect ballads to enrich their lyrics and tunes. The music of the princes was dedicated to the emperor, and these folk songs were gathered in the imperial court.
There is some truth to these statements