Book of Songs: Illustrated Text

Author: Wu Zhaoji (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-03-01
Features: The Book of Songs has had an extremely broad and profound impact on China's history and culture as a classic, serving as a valuable spiritual and cultural treasure of the Chinese nation. With its rich connotations and profound ideological depth, it paints a vivid social and historical picture for us, making it an important source of Chinese literature and art. The Book of Songs is a collection of Chinese poetry. In the pre-Qin era, it was called "poetry" or "the 300 poems" and was edited by Confucius. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, following Dong Zhongshu's suggestion to "suppress all schools of thought except Confucianism," "poetry" was elevated to the status of a classic and named the Book of Songs. The Book of Songs is divided into three major categories: Feng, Ya, and Song, all of which are works from the pre-Qin Zhou Dynasty. The Feng includes fifteen "state airs" such as Zhou Nan, Zhao Nan, Bei, Xiang, Wei, Wang, Zheng, Qi, Wei, Tang, Qin, Chen, Huai, Cao, and Bin, totaling 160 poems; the Ya is divided into Great Ya and Small Ya, with a total of 105 poems; and the Song consists of Zhou Song, Lu Song, and Shang Song, totaling 40 poems. Together, they form 305 poems. The Book of Songs, as a classic, has had an extremely broad and profound impact on China's history and culture, serving as a valuable spiritual and cultural treasure of the Chinese nation. With its rich connotations and profound ideological depth, it paints a vivid social and historical picture for us, making it an important source of Chinese literature and art.