The Four Books and The Five Classics

四书五经

The Four Books and The Five Classics were the canonical works of the Confucian culture in the feudal society in ancient China.

《四书五经》是中国古代封建社会儒家的经典书籍。

The Four Books refers to The Great Learning , The Doctrine of the Mean , Confucian Analects and The Works of Mencius.

四书是指《论语》、《孟子》、《大学》和《中庸》；

And The Five Classics includes The Book of Poetry (also known as The Book of Songs, The Book of Odes ) , The Book of History , The Book of Rites , The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annals .

而五经是指《诗经》，《尚书》、《礼记》、《周易》、 《春秋》。

The Five Classics got its name during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, and there emerged a group of scholars responsible for the interpretation of these classics.

汉武帝独尊儒术，置五经博士，专门研习五经。

The Four Books are short for The Texts and Annotations of the Pour Books, which were compiled and annotated by Zhu Xi, a Neo-Confucian scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty to establish his own theoretical system of li or Principles.

南宋时，大学者朱熹写成一本《四书章句集注》，简称《四书集注》。

Collectively called The Four Books and The Five Classics, they cover such a wide range of subjects as literature, history, philosophy, politics, economics, education,moral ethics, geology, arts，science and technology，etc.

“四书”的名称就这样流传下来; “四书五经”的内容涉及文学、史学、哲学、政治、经济、教育、伦理、道德、天文、地埋、 艺术、科技等各个方面，

and are the most important textbooks for the Confucian scholars to disseminate the educational thoughts of the Confucian School and a must for ancient scholars who had to pass the imperial competitive examination to become government officials.

是儒家施行其儒学教化的重要教科书，中国古代文人科举做官的必读书。

In short, they have a far-reaching influence on the way of existence, intellectual quality, moral ethics and esthetic values of the Chinese nation.

对中国人的民族生存方式、民族心理素质、价值观念、审美观念等都产生了深远的影响。