The annotations of Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean are called "chapters and sentences", and the annotations of The Analects and Mencius are called "concentrated notes" because they quote many other people's words. It is worth noting that the order of the four books compiled by Zhu was originally The University, The Analects of Confucius, Mencius and The Doctrine of the Mean, which was arranged in the order of learning from the shallow to the deep.
Later generations put The Doctrine of the Mean in front of The Analects because of its short space. For the convenience of engraving and publishing, it became the popular order of The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius the year before last.
Five Classics: The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Book of Rites, Zhouyi and Chunqiu, which are collectively called the Five Classics. The Five Classics is the collective name of five ancient classic works based on Confucianism. It is said that they were edited or revised by Confucius, one of the founders of Confucianism.
There are six Confucian classics, namely The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Yili, Jing Yue, Chunqiu and Zhouyi. Qin Shihuang "burned books to bury Confucianism". It is said that Yue Ji was lost after the Qin fire. On this basis, The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Filial Piety and The Seven Classics of * * * were added in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, Chunqiu was divided into three biographies, namely Zuo Zhuan, Yang Gongzhuan and Gu Liangzhuan. The Book of Rites is divided into three rites: Zhou Li, Yi Li and Li Ji, and then Er Ya is added to form the twelve classics. Mencius was supplemented in the Song Dynasty, and later the Notes to Thirteen Classics was handed down from generation to generation.
Thirteen Classics is the basic work of Confucian culture. As far as traditional concepts are concerned, Yi, Shi, Shu, Li and Chunqiu are called classics, while Zuo Zhuan, Yang Gongzhuan and Gu Liangzhuan belong to Chunqiu Jingzhuan and Book of Rites.
The last five classics refer to the Book of Changes, Shangshu, Book of Songs, Book of Rites and Zuo Zhuan.