Book of Rites - Legacy

Legacy

As a result of the Book of Rites' chapters, using a syncretic system and combining Daoist and Mohist beliefs, later scholars formed both the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean. These two books were both believed to be written by two of Confucius' disciples one specifically being his grandson. The great Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi and his edited versions of the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean influenced the Chinese society to place much more attention on these and two other books creating the Four Books. Throughout Chinese history the Five Classics and the Four Books were very important theoretical works, but also were the standard textbooks for the state civil examination, from 1313 to 1905, which every educated person had to learn by heart. Consequently, the Book of Rites and two of its by-products were large integral parts of the Chinese beliefs and industry for many centuries.