The Book of Rites was written by many people, collected from a variety of ancient books, the content is extremely complex, and the arrangement is relatively scattered, and later generations use the method of classification to study. Zheng Xuan, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, divided the 49 articles into 8 categories, including general theory, system, sacrifice, mourning clothes, and auspicious events. In modern times, Liang Qichao is divided into five categories: (1) General theory of etiquette and academics, including "Etiquette", "Interpretation of the Scriptures", "Music Notes", "Learning Records", "University", "The Mean", "Confucianism", "Fang Records", "Table Records", "Tie Clothes" and other articles; (2) Explain the "Etiquette", including "Guanyi", "Duyi", "Township Drinking Righteousness", "Shooting Righteousness", "Yanyi", "Hire", "Four Systems of Mourning Clothes", etc.; (3) Record the words and deeds of Confucius or the disciples of Confucius and the miscellaneous affairs of people, such as "Confucius Idle Residence", "Confucius Yanju", "Tan Gong", "Zeng Ziwen", etc.; (4) Record the etiquette of the ancient system, and to distinguish it, including "The Royal System", "Quli", "Yuzao", "Famous Hall", "Moon Order", "Ritual", "Suburban Special Sacrifice", "Sacrifice System", "Sacrifice Law", "Great Biography", "Funeral Record", "Mourning Clothes", "Running Funeral", "Asking Funeral", "King Wen's Son", "Internal Rules", "Shaoyi", etc.; (5) Aphorisms and famous sentences of "Quli", "Shaoyi", "Confucianism" and other articles.

In the Han Dynasty, the classics set by Confucius were called "classics", and the disciples' explanations of "classics" were called "biography" or "records", hence the name "Book of Rites", that is, the interpretation of rites. Before the Western Han Dynasty, there were 131 articles in the Book of Rites. According to legend, Dai De selected 85 of them, known as "The Great Dai Li Ji"; Dai Sheng selected 49 of them, called "Little Dai Li Ji". In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the version of Da Dai was basically not popular, and the "Book of Rites" with the special name of Xiao Dai and "Zhou Li" and "Rites" were collectively called "Three Rites", and Zheng Xuan made notes for the "Book of Rites", so the status rose to the scriptures. The book also contains a wide range of discussions on etiquette, the interpretation of institutions, and the promotion of Confucianism.

Zhu Xi, a scholar of the Song Dynasty, selected the Daxue, Zhongyong, Analects, and Mencius, and collectively referred to them as the "Four Books" as the basic readings of Confucianism, and the "Poems", "Books", "Rites", "Yi", and "Spring and Autumn" as the "Five Classics". "Zhou Li", "Etiquette" and "Book of Rites" are collectively known as the "Three Rites". "Zhou Li", also known as "Zhou Guan", is a classic that talks about the official system and political system. "Etiquette" is a description of the ceremonial system related to crowns, marriages, funerals, sacrifices, townships, shooting, courts, and appointments. The Book of Rites is an anthology of Confucian treatises on various ritual systems before the Qin and Han dynasties, which includes not only an account of the etiquette system, but also a discussion of the theory of etiquette, its ethics, morality, and academic thought.

The Book of Rites is not only a book describing rules and regulations, but also a textbook on benevolence, righteousness and morality. Among them, the most famous chapters include "University", "The Mean", "Rites and Fortunes" and so on. The first paragraph of "Rites and Fortunes" is a dialogue between Confucius and Ziyou, also known as "Rites and Fortunes, Datong", and the word Datong is often used as a synonym for the ideal realm.

The Book of Rites, also known as the Book of Rites, was written by Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Chen Shao's Treatise on the Rites of the Zhou Dynasty and the Book of Sui and the Book of Sui in the Jin Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, the Five Classics that were established as scholars were "Yi", "Shu", "Poems", "Rites" and "Spring and Autumn". The so-called "Li" refers to the "Shili", that is, the "Liturgy".

At the same time that the pre-Qin ritual scholars passed on the "Rites", they all accompanied some reference materials, which were called "records", as auxiliary materials, and their common characteristics were: (1) they were all copied in the official scripts that were common at that time; (2) It is attached to the "Rites" and passed on, and is not an independent book; (3) Because it is an incidental material, it is often deleted according to personal interests, and even if it is a good anthology, its number and order are not absolutely fixed.

Although there are differences in the academic views of the scholars of the Western Han Dynasty, they all reject the ancient scriptures, and some of the ancient scriptures at that time were hidden in the royal secret palace, and ordinary people could not see them. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin, who was in charge of the school's management of ancient scriptures, suggested that "Zuo's Spring and Autumn Period", "Mao's Poems", "Yili" and "Ancient Wenshangshu" (all of which belong to the classics of the ancient school) be listed as official studies, but they were unanimously opposed by scholars and doctors, and Liu Xin reprimanded them for "holding on to the defects".

It can be seen from this that the records selected by the Western Han scholars will not and cannot be included in the ancient scriptures that they rejected and were not yet popular at that time. However, in the "Book of Rites" that has been handed down to the present day in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there are ancient school texts. For example, "remembering" is the explanation, explanation, and addition of scriptures. There are many such memories that have been passed down from generation to generation, and they are not the work of one person at a time. In the Western Han Dynasty, there were not many records of ritual scholars.

The Eastern Han Dynasty historian Ban Gu said in his "Book of Han": There are 131 articles in the "Records". "Running for Funeral" and "Throwing the Pot" are two of the "Yi Li", which are now included in the "Book of Rites". The Western Han Dynasty scholar Dai Sheng belongs to the modern school, and it is impossible for him to include the chapters of the ancient school. Therefore, it cannot be said that the "Book of Rites" seen today was completely compiled by Dai Sheng, a scholar of Western Han Dynasty rites.

During the period of Emperor Ping of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang was in power, and established "Zuo's Spring and Autumn Period", "Mao's Poems", "Yili" and "Ancient Texts and Books" as scholars, and then vigorously promoted the study of ancient scriptures for more than 20 years. After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the scriptures established were all modern scriptures, and the aspects of "Rites" were established by the two families of Da Dai and Xiao Dai, and the various ancient scriptures established during the Wang Mang period were once again excluded from the official studies. However, since the study of ancient literature and classics has flourished in the world, the two schools of modern and ancient literature are becoming more and more mixed.

In order to meet the needs of the imperial etiquette system, most of the modern etiquette scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty were no longer willing to "hold on to the defects" to pass on the "Shi Li", but were committed to being eclectic. Therefore, the various anthologies selected and copied by the Western Han Dynasty scholars, through the hands of the Eastern Han Dynasty scholars, naturally mixed with some ancient scriptures that have become popular in the world.

So, how to distinguish between ancient and modern scriptures?

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