The Western Han Dynasty scriptures are divided into modern scriptures and ancient scriptures. After the Qin war, most of the Confucian classics in the early Han Dynasty did not have the old pre-Qin classics. The present Wenjing refers to the scriptures that were passed down orally by Confucian scholars in the early Han Dynasty and recorded in the popular official scripts of the time. Ancient scriptures refer to the scriptures written in the pre-Qin ancient script from the folk collection or found in the walls of Confucius's former residence in the early Han Dynasty.

There are differences in their attitudes towards Confucius. Today's literature and classics believe that the Six Classics were all written by Confucius, and regard Confucius as the pioneer of the reform of the ancient system; Pay attention to the subtle meaning of the scriptures, and advocate the combination of Confucianism and reality; Among them, Dong Zhongshu and He Xiu are representatives, who value "The Legend of the Spring and Autumn Ram" the most. The ancient literature and scriptures worship the Duke of Zhou, and regard Confucius as the ancestor of "saying but not doing, believing and being ancient"; Exegesis, which focuses on interpreting the meaning of paleographies, has a weak connection with realpolitik issues; Among them, Liu Xin and Jia Kui are representatives, who value "Zhou Li" the most.

There is a difference in the order in which the two schools study the classics, and the reason why there is a difference in the order of learning the classics in ancient literature and classics is only because the two schools have different positions on Confucius. Today's literature and classics regard Confucius as an educator and thinker, so the order of the Five Classics is set as "Poems", "Books", "Rites", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn", from shallow to deep; Ancient literature and classics regard Confucius as a historian, and the order of the Five Classics is located in the order of Yi, Shu, Poem, Li, and Spring and Autumn, and they are arranged chronologically. Modern scholars believe that modern literature and ancient literature and classics can be well integrated, and the quarrel at that time was so fierce that it was actually a dispute for fame and fortune.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the doctors of the Five Classics were all modern classics, and modern classics monopolized the official studies of the Han Dynasty for a long time. Later, modern literature and classics gradually fell into rigidity and cumbersomeness, and gradually declined in the late Western Han Dynasty. At the same time, the study of ancient scriptures continued to grow and develop, Wang Mang once established the ancient scriptures in the scholars, and in the later period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it gradually formed a trend of overpowering modern scriptures. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the ancient scholars Ma Rong and Zheng Xuan adopted both modern and ancient texts, and the controversy between modern and ancient texts gradually subsided.

*********

After a long period of circulation, by the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, most of the selected editions were eliminated successively, and 85 and 49 editions were formed and retained. The former has a large number of articles, so it is named "The Great Dai Li Ji"; The latter has a small number of articles, so it is named "Little Dai Li Ji". In fact, these two anthologies are not the original anthologies of Dade and Dai Sheng.

Zheng Xuan, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, made an excellent annotation to the selected version of the "Records" containing 49 articles in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is the "Book of Rites" that we see today. In this way, it got rid of the status of subordination to the "Rites" and became an independent book, and gradually won the respect of the world, believed and passed on, and many works on the "Book of Rites" appeared during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

In the Tang Dynasty, the state set up the imperial examination, and listed the nearly 200,000-word "Zuo Chuan" and the 100,000-word "Book of Rites" as the Great Classics, and the 50,000-word "Rites", "Zhou Li" and "Book of Songs" as the Middle Classics. Because the text of the Book of Rites is relatively smooth, less difficult, and is listed as a major classic, even though it is nearly twice as many words as the Book of Rites, there are still many people who study the Book of Rites. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the status of the "Book of Rites" was further improved, and the Five Classics of the Han Dynasty had "Rites" but no "Rites", and the Five Classics of the Ming Dynasty had "The Book of Rites" but did not have "Rites". The Book of Rites has changed from a vassal to a great power, while the former great power of the Rites of Rites has gradually declined.

In the long historical period from the Western Han Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the "Book of Rites" has been paid more and more attention, and the "Rites" has been more and more ignored, and there is a reason for this. Because "Etiquette" records a large list of etiquette, which is boring, difficult to read and understand, and far from real life, the development of society has made it increasingly haggard and lose its attractiveness. And what about the Book of Rites? It not only records many practical rituals in life, but also expounds in detail the significance of various ceremonies and the spirit of ritual making, and quite thoroughly propagates the Confucian doctrine of etiquette.

Historical and practical experience has made the feudal ruling class realize more and more deeply that while strengthening the state apparatus, using Confucianism centered on etiquette to attract the broad masses of intellectuals and standardize the thinking and actions of the people of the world is a major policy that cannot be ignored in maintaining the ruling order and thus achieving long-term peace and stability. This is also the fundamental reason why the Book of Rites has been favored by successive dynasties and has been promoted to the status of a classic.

For thousands of years, the books that have had the greatest influence on the ideology of the Chinese nation have been Confucian books. Judging from the size of the role it plays, the Book of Rites is second only to the Analects, comparable to Mencius, and far more than Xunzi. After the Western Han Dynasty, the Book of Rites rose from a Confucian short story to an important classic of a great country, and such a historical fact itself deserves the attention of the world.

The "Book of Rites", a miscellaneous compilation of Confucianism, has a huge and complex content, which can be roughly divided into the following aspects:

There are special records of a certain ritual, and the subject matter is similar to "Etiquette", such as "Running for Funeral" and "Throwing Pot".

There are special explanations of "etiquette", such as "Guanyi", "Duyi", "Township Drinking and Sprinkling", "Shooting Yi", "Yanyi", "Hiring", and "Four Systems of Mourning Clothes". They are respectively explained in the "Rites", "Shiguan Ceremony", "Dusk Ceremony", "Township Drinking Ceremony", "Township Shooting Ceremony", "Great Shooting Ceremony", "Yan Ceremony", and "Mourning Clothes", which are most closely related to the "Etiquette".

There are miscellaneous records of mourning clothes and funerals, such as "Tan Gong", "Zeng Zi Wen", "Mourning Clothes Notes", "Miscellaneous Notes", "Funeral Records", "Running Funeral", "Asking Funerals", "Clothing Questions", "Intervening Biography", "Three Years Asking", "Four Systems of Mourning Clothes", etc.

;