The Four Books and Five Classics refer to the collective term for the classic works of ancient Chinese Confucianism

The Four Books and Five Classics is the collective name for the classic works of Confucianism, made up of two major parts: the Four Books and the Five Classics. The Four Books refer to The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects, and Mencius; the Five Classics refer to The Classic of Poetry, The Book of Documents, The Book of Rites, The I Ching, and The Spring and Autumn Annals. For a long time they were regarded as the core texts of traditional Chinese education and scholarship, and their influence has been extremely far-reaching.

The formation of the Four Books is connected with the Southern Song scholar Zhu Xi. He took the two chapters The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean, which had originally been included in The Book of Rites, and extracted them separately, compiling them together with The Analects and Mencius and adding annotations, and thus the name Four Books came into being. After this, the Four Books gradually became the basic required reading for scholars taking their first steps in study, and their status grew increasingly important.

The term Five Classics can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. In early times there was the theory of six classics: Poetry, Documents, Rites, Music, Changes, and Spring and Autumn. Later The Classic of Music was lost, leaving only five, hence the name Five Classics. Among them, The Classic of Poetry is the earliest general collection of poetry, The Book of Documents collects ancient political affairs and proclamations, The Book of Rites records ritual systems and Confucian thought, The I Ching expounds the philosophy of change, and The Spring and Autumn Annals is a chronological history book.

Over the long course of historical development, the Four Books and Five Classics were always important content in the imperial examinations and also required reading in traditional elementary and advanced education. The large number of idioms, maxims, and allusions left behind in the classics still often appear in everyday language today. Understanding the Four Books and Five Classics helps one to know the thought, ethical norms, and social culture of ancient China.