The Five Classics and the Four Books are the core of the Confucian classics and were the main texts scholars studied; their learning and vocabulary came mainly from these books.
In 136 BCE Emperor Wu of Han privileged Confucianism and established erudites of the Five Classics, and the Five Classics became the state canon.
In the Tang, Kong Yingda and others compiled the Correct Meaning of the Five Classics by imperial order; it was issued under Gaozong and unified the commentaries on the classics.
In 1313 Emperor Renzong of Yuan restored the examinations with the commentary on the Four Books by Zhu Xi as the standard, and the pattern of the Four Books and Five Classics was fixed from then until 1905.
Confucian Classics is the class in the chapter on Letters on the Confucian classics: the classics centred on the Five Classics and the Four Books, from the Han on, and the way they were made the state canon, given standard commentaries and set as the examination standard. Emperor Wu of Han appointed erudites of the Five Classics, the Tang issued the Correct Meaning of the Five Classics, and from the Yuan the examinations followed Zhu Xi's commentary on the Four Books until 1905.
