《Book of SongsThe Book of Songs is China's first collection of poetry with a realist style, dating back over 2,500 years. The poems were originally lyrics meant to be sung with music and dance, but over the long course of transmission, amid wars and dynastic changes, the music and dance parts have been lost, leaving only the lyrics today.
It is said that by the Spring and Autumn period, over 3,000 poems had been passed down, including hymns praising ancestral achievements, ceremonial music for sacrifices, exchanges among nobles and complaints about unequal labor, as well as folk songs reflecting labor, love, marriage, and social customs. In the pre-Qin era, it was called the Book of Songs.ConfuciusIn his later years, he compiled and edited it, removing many inappropriate works, leaving only 311 poems, six of which had titles but no content, known as the Sheng Poems. Later, for convenience, people rounded it off and called it the Three Hundred Poems.Book of SongsThis title only appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, after which it was revered as a Confucian classic and has been used ever since.
In the Book of Songs, besides the ceremonial songs composed by the Zhou Dynasty's court musicians and those presented by scholar-officials, there were also many folk ballads collected from the common people. These folk songs originated from a wide range of regions and had diverse authors, so how were they gathered together? According to tradition, the Zhou Dynasty specially appointed officials to collect folk songs. Every spring, these designated collectors would shake bronze bells as they traveled through various villages, gathering songs that reflected the people's joys and sufferings. After returning, they would organize the material and hand it over to the court musicians, who would set the lyrics to music and perform them for the emperor. This allowed the emperor to understand the state of governance and customs—their strengths and weaknesses—and use this knowledge as a reference for ruling. In other words, these folk songs were systematically collected by the imperial court.
There is another theory that the main collector of the Book of Songs was Yin Jifu. Yin Jifu was a high-ranking minister under King Xuan of the Zhou Dynasty, accomplished in both civil and military affairs—capable of governing the state in times of peace and securing the realm in times of war. Some chapters in the Book of Songs praise Yin Jifu's achievements, such as "Civil and military Jifu, a model for the world," while others were actually composed by him, including "Zheng Min," "Han Yi," and "Jiang Han" from the Greater Odes. These poems, whether praising or satirical, were already quite mature in both thought and artistry, showing that he himself was a great poet. Due to his outstanding contributions to the collection of the Book of Songs, Yin Jifu was later honored as the "Father of Chinese Poetry." The Book of Songs is divided into three sections—"Airs," "Odes," and "Hymns"—based on their use and musical style.
"Feng" refers to local folk songs and ballads from various regions, including fifteen areas such as Zhou Nan, Shao Nan, Bei, Yong, Wei, Wang, Zheng, and Qi, collectively called the "Fifteen States' Airs," totaling 160 pieces. This section celebrates love, labor, and other beautiful things, expresses nostalgia for homeland and longing for distant loved ones, and voices resistance against oppression and injustice, achieving the highest literary merit and forming the core of the Book of Songs. "Ya" refers to the orthodox court music, used for praying for bountiful harvests and praising ancestral virtues, consisting of ceremonial songs performed at noble banquets or feudal lords' court assemblies, mostly composed by scholar-officials. It is divided into Greater Ya and Lesser Ya, with 105 poems in total—31 in Greater Ya and 74 in Lesser Ya, though Lesser Ya also includes many folk-like works such as "Yellow Bird," "I Walk in the Wild," and "Valley Wind." "Song" refers to the dance music performed by the Son of Heaven and feudal lords during ancestral temple sacrifices, primarily praising the achievements of ancestors. It is divided into three sections: Zhou Song, Lu Song, and Shang Song, totaling 40 pieces—31 in Zhou Song, 4 in Lu Song, and 5 in Shang Song.
The poems in the Book of Songs are primarily composed in four-character lines, employing three main expressive techniques: direct narrative (fu), metaphor (bi), and evocative imagery (xing). Direct narrative involves expressing emotions straightforwardly, such as in the line "In life and death, we are bound together; I hold your hand, and we grow old together." Metaphor includes both explicit and implicit comparisons; for instance, the Book of Songs uses "Stones from other hills can polish jade" to illustrate that a ruler should employ virtuous people, and "a white reed" to describe a beautiful hand, or "congealed fat" to depict fair skin. Evocative imagery uses other objects to set the stage for the main subject, as seen in the opening of "Guan Ju": "Guan-guan go the ospreys, on the islet in the river," where the poet first describes the scene before leading into "A graceful and modest maiden, a fine match for a gentleman." While direct narrative and metaphor are fundamental techniques in poetry, evocative imagery is unique to the Book of Songs and Chinese poetry. It arises from free association, effectively enhancing the poetic atmosphere and creating a mood, often appearing at the beginning of a poem or stanza, and it also carries more concrete meanings such as metaphor, symbolism, and contrast.
Fu, Bi, Xing, together with Feng, Ya, and Song, are called the "Six Principles."
The Book of Songs collects poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn period. It begins with King Wu's conquest of the Shang, the fall of the Shang Dynasty, and the Zhou clan becoming the supreme ruler of all under heaven, continuing through the rebellion of the common people, the expulsion of King Li, King You's beacon-fire trick on the feudal lords leading to his death at the hands of the Quanrong tribe, and King Ping's relocation to the eastern capital Luoyang, ushering in the Spring and Autumn period. During this era, the royal house declined, feudal lords vied for hegemony, border tribes frequently invaded, and society was in turmoil. The Book of Songs vividly records the social life of the Zhou Dynasty over these five hundred years, faithfully reflecting the historical transition of Chinese slave society from prosperity to decline.
Among them, some poems narrate from the birth of Hou Ji to King Wu's conquest of Zhou, serving as epics of the Zhou tribe's origins, development, and establishment of the Zhou dynasty, such as "Sheng Min," "Gong Liu," and "Huang Yi" from the "Greater Odes"; some poems satirize the greed and unearned gains of slave owners, reflecting the people's resistance to oppression and their longing for an ideal life, like "Shuo Shu" and "Fa Tan" from the "Airs of Wei"; others depict the longing of soldiers for home and their lament over war, such as "He Cao Bu Huang" and "Cai Wei" from the "Lesser Odes"; and still others describe the labor life of the people, like "Fu Yi" from the "Airs of Zhou and the South," "Qi Yue" from the "Airs of Bin," and "Wu Yang" from the "Lesser Odes." The "Book of Songs" also contains many poems about the love between young men and women, for instance, "Jian Jia" from the "Airs of Qin" portrays a man's pursuit of a woman, "Jing Nü" from the "Airs of Bei" depicts a romantic date, and "Cai Ge" from the "Airs of Wang" expresses the pangs of longing between lovers, among others.
ConfuciusWhen evaluating the Book of Songs, it is said that each of its 305 poems tells a story, and every story conveys a lesson—there is much to say, but its core idea can be summed up in one phrase: "thought without depravity." This phrase, originally from the poem "Jiong" in the "Lu Song" section, means that thoughts should follow natural instincts and not be deliberately twisted. The poets sought to inspire goodness in people and remove their evil inclinations, using beautiful language to praise virtue and sharp words to satirize and condemn ugliness, thereby refining human nature to be gentle and upright. Whether through praise or satire, the sole purpose was to suppress evil and promote good.