Wu Ching

(Five Classics), a group of five Confucian classics that includes the I Ching (Book of Changes), the Shu Ching (Book of History), the Shih Ching (Book of Songs), the I Ching (Book of Ritual), and the Ch’un Ch’iu (Spring and Autumn Annals). In the late second century and the early first century B.C., the books were elevated to the position of major classics in the Confucian canon. From that time until the bourgeois Hsin-hai Revolution of 1911–13, they constituted the foundation of the Confucian education of Chinese youth and were a compulsory subject in the educational system and in the training of officials. The Wu Ching is an important source for the study of China’s history and includes some of the oldest Chinese literary texts.