the book of rites.doc

The Book of Rites1. Brief introduction The Book of Rites also translated as Classic of Rites or Record of Rites, was one of the Five Classics of the Confucian canon. It described the social forms,governmental system, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050256 BCE).The work is not to be confused with two other classical texts on rites: The Rites of Zhou (周礼) and the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonies (仪礼/儀禮). On the relationship between the three books see history of etiquette and ceremonies. 2. The history of the book of rites the Book of Rites was compiled by the etiquettes scholars Dai De and his nephew Dai Sheng in the West Han Dynasty. The version of 85 articles selected and complied by Dai De is known as the Senior Dais Book of Rites, which was unfortunately lost in the later generations. The version of 49 articles selected and complied by Dai Sheng is called Junior Dais Book of Rites, which is the origin of the current Book of Rites. 3. There are two pictures: one is the books ,the other is two authors, Daide and Dai sheng.4. Talk about the content The Book of Rites mainly records and explains the etiquette code of Pre-Qin period .It takes the etiquette and music as the core, involving many aspects, such as politics, laws, morality, philosophy, history, sacrifice, art, daily life, calendars, and geography and so on. Therefore, it is the concentrated display of the politics, philosophies and ethic ideas of the Confucian in Pre-Qin time. The Book of Rites elaborates many profound ideas on study, education, life, metal and physical cultivation which are still inspiring and thought-provoking to the modern people. 5. Previous influences6. Written in prose with concise but vivid language, some articles of The Book of Rites are of high literature value. Some essays adopt short but vivid stories to illustrate truths, some are well-structured; some inscribe profound thoughts into simple narration; some is good at psychological depiction. In addi