The Six Classics refer to poetry, calligraphy, ceremony, righteousness, music and the Spring and Autumn Period, which first appeared in Zhuangzi and Tian Yun. The full names of these six classic works are The Book of Songs, The Book of Songs (Shangshu), Yili, Yijing (Zhouyi), Jing Yue and Chunqiu.

Confucius, the founder of Confucianism in China, compiled poems, books, rituals, changes, music and the Spring and Autumn Period in his later years, which were later called the Six Classics.

Jing Yue has been lost, so it is usually called the Five Classics. The Book of Rites: The Han Dynasty refers to the Book of Rites, and the Book of Rites in the Five Classics after the Song Dynasty generally refers to the Book of Rites. In the three-character classic: "The Book of Changes, the Spring and Autumn Rites, and the number of six classics are more important." Rites refer to big gifts and small gifts, but one of them was lost and renamed the Book of Rites.

These six ancient books were not written by Confucius, but existed long before Confucius. Confucius just did some sorting work on them.

These six ancient books, preserved from ancient times to the present, were owned by the royal family and nobles before Confucius, and were highly valued by the rulers of past dynasties. These six ancient books are included in the teaching materials listed by Shen Shushi when he talked about educating the prince in "The Country is in Danger at the Beginning and the Business is in Danger".

"Teaching makes everyone know; The joy of teaching, in order to dredge its meeting and suppress its floating, makes knowledge waste and daunting; Teaching the "Training Code" will make you know how to compete and do it. " There are nine kinds of ancient books mentioned here: Spring and Autumn Annals, History, History, Li, Yue, Ling, Jade, Ancient Records and Xundian.

Most of the six classics compiled by Confucius are included, and these titles are also common in other documents in the pre-Qin period.