Editing Chinese classics (section)

===Before 221 BC===
It is often difficult or impossible to precisely date pre-Qin works beyond their being "pre-Qin", a period of 1000 years. Information in ancient China was often by oral tradition and passed down from generations before so was rarely written down, so the older the composition of the texts may not be in a chronological order as that which was arranged and presented by their attributed "authors".<ref>Cambridge History of Ancient China chapter 11</ref>

The below list is therefore organized in the order which is found in the ''[[Siku Quanshu]]'' (''Complete Library of the Four Treasuries''), the encyclopedic collation of the works found in the imperial library of the Qing dynasty under the [[Qianlong Emperor]]. The ''Siku Quanshu'' classifies all works into 4 top-level branches: the Confucian Classics and their secondary literature; history; philosophy; and poetry. There are sub-categories within each branch, but due to the small number of pre-Qin works in the Classics, History and Poetry branches, the sub-categories are only reproduced for the Philosophy branch.

====Classics branch====
{|class=wikitable
|-
!Title
!Description
|-
| ''[[I Ching]]''
|A manual of divination based on the [[bagua|eight trigram]]s attributed to the mythical figure [[Fuxi]]—by at least the Eastern Zhou, these eight trigrams had been multiplied to create 64 [[Hexagram (I Ching)|hexagram]]s.
|-
|''[[Book of Documents]]''
|A collection of documents and speeches allegedly from the [[Xia dynasty|Xia]], [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] and [[Western Zhou]] periods, and even earlier. It contains some of the earliest examples of Chinese prose.
|- 
|''[[Classic of Poetry]]''
|Made up of 305 poems divided into 160 folk songs, 74 minor festal songs, traditionally sung at court festivities, 31 major festal songs, sung at more solemn court ceremonies, and 40 hymns and eulogies, sung at sacrifices to gods and ancestral spirits of the royal house. This book is traditionally credited as a compilation edited by Confucius. A standard version, named ''Maoshi Zhengyi'', was compiled in the mid-7th century under the leadership of [[Kong Yingda]].
|-
!The Three Rites
|
|-
|''[[Rites of Zhou]]''
|Conferred the status of a classic in the 12th century, in place of the lost ''[[Classic of Music]]''.
|-
|''[[Yili (text)|Book of Etiquette and Ceremony]]'' 
|Describes ancient rites, social forms and court ceremonies.
|-
| ''[[Classic of Rites]]''
|Describes social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites.
|-
!''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]''
|Chronologically the earliest of the annals; comprising about 16,000 characters, it records the events of the [[state of Lu]] from 722 to 481 BC, with implied condemnation of usurpations, murder, incest, etc.
|-
| ''[[Zuo zhuan]]''
| A different report of the same events as the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' with a few significant differences. It covers a longer period than the ''Spring and Autumn Annals''<!--; until 463 BC it was often regarded as the tradition commentary among the three-->.
|- 
|''[[Gongyang Zhuan|Commentary of Gongyang]]'' 
|Another surviving commentary on the same events (see ''Spring and Autumn Annals'').
|-
| ''[[Guliang Zhuan|Commentary of Guliang]]'' 
| Another surviving commentary on the same events (see ''Spring and Autumn Annals'').
|- 
|''[[Classic of Filial Piety]]''
|A small book giving advice on [[filial piety]]; how to behave towards a senior (such as a father, an elder brother, or ruler).
|-
!The Four Books
!
|-
|''[[Mencius (book)|Mencius]]''
|A book of anecdotes and conversations of [[Mencius]].
|-
| ''[[Analects]]''
|A twenty-chapter work of dialogues attributed to Confucius and his disciples; traditionally believed to have been written by Confucius's own circle it is thought to have been set down by later Confucian scholars.
|-
|[[Doctrine of the Mean]]
|A chapter from the Book of Rites made into an independent work by [[Zhu Xi]]
|-
|[[Great Learning]]
|A chapter from the Book of Rites made into an independent work by Zhu Xi
|-
!Philology
!
|-
|''[[Erya]]''
|A dictionary explaining the meaning and interpretation of words in the context of the Confucian Canon.
|}

====History branch====
{|class=wikitable
!Title
!Description
|-
|''[[Bamboo Annals]]''
|History of Zhou dynasty excavated from a Wei tomb in the [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Jin dynasty]].
|-
|''[[Yi Zhou Shu]]''
|Similar in style to the ''[[Book of Documents]]''
|-
|''[[Guoyu (book)|Guoyu]]'' 
|A collection of historical records of numerous states recorded the period from the [[Western Zhou]] to 453 BC.
|-
|''[[Strategies of the Warring States]]'' 
|Edited by [[Liu Xiang (author)|Liu Xiang]].
|-
|''[[Yanzi chunqiu]]''
|Attributed to the statesman [[Yan Ying]], a contemporary of Confucius
|}

====Philosophy branch====
The philosophical typology of individual pre-imperial texts has in every case been applied retroactively, rather than consciously within the text itself.<ref name="Smith 2003">{{Cite journal |first=Kidder |last=Smith |title=Sima Tan and the Invention of Daoism, 'Legalism,' et cetera |journal=Journal of Asian Studies |volume=62 |issue=1 |year=2003 |pages=129–156 |jstor=3096138 |publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.2307/3096138 }}</ref> The categorization of works of these genera has been highly contentious, especially in modern times. Many modern scholars reject the continued usefulness of this model as a heuristic for understanding the shape of the intellectual landscape of the time.{{sfnp|Csikszentmihalyi|Nylan|2003|pp=59–99}}{{sfnp|Meyer|2012|pp=247–249}}{{sfnp|Grebnev|2022|pp=2–3, 254–255}}
{|class=wikitable
|-
!Title
!Description
|-
!Confucianism (excluding Classics branch)
!
|-
|''[[Kongzi Jiayu]]''
|Collection of stories about Confucius and his disciples. Authenticity disputed.
|-
|''[[Xunzi (book)|Xunzi]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Xun Kuang]], an ancient Chinese collection of philosophical writings that makes the distinction between what is born in man and what must be learned through rigorous education.
|-
!Seven Military Classics
!{{main|Seven Military Classics}}
|- 
|''[[Six Secret Teachings]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Jiang Ziya]]
|-
| ''[[The Art of War]]''
|Attributed to [[Sunzi]].
|-
| ''[[Wuzi]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Wu Qi]].
|-
| ''[[The Methods of the Sima]]''
|Attributed to [[Sima Rangju]].
|-
| ''[[Wei Liaozi]]'' 
|Attributed to Wei Liao.
|-
| ''[[Three Strategies of Huang Shigong]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Jiang Ziya]].
|-
|  ''[[Thirty-Six Stratagems]]'' 
| Recently recovered.
|-
!Legalism
!
|-
| ''[[Guanzi (text)|Guanzi]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Guan Zhong]].
|-
|''[[Deng Xizi]]''{{csni|date=August 2024}}
|Fragment
|-
|''[[The Book of Lord Shang]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Shang Yang]].
|-
| ''[[Han Feizi (book)|Han Feizi]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Han Fei]].
|-
| ''Shenzi'' 
|Attributed to [[Shen Buhai]]. All but one chapter is lost.
|-
|''[[Canon of Laws]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Li Kui (legalist)|Li Kui]].
|-
!Medicine
!
|-
|''[[Huangdi Neijing]]''
|
|-
|''[[Nan Jing (Chinese medicine)|Nan Jing]]''
|
|-
!Miscellaneous
!
|-
|''[[Yuzi (book)|Yuzi]]''{{csni|date=August 2024}}
|Fragment
|-
|''[[Mozi#Works and influence|Mozi]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Mozi]].
|-
|''Yinwenzi''{{csni|date=August 2024}}
|Fragment
|-
|''Shenzi''
| Attributed to [[Shen Dao]]. It originally consisted of ten volumes and forty-two chapters, of which all but seven chapters have been lost.
|-
|''[[Heguanzi]]''
|
|-
|''[[Gongsun Long|Gongsun longzi]]''
|
|-
|''[[Guiguzi]]''
|
|-
|''[[Lüshi Chunqiu]]'' 
|An encyclopedia of ancient classics edited by [[Lü Buwei]].
|-
|''[[Shizi (book)|Shizi]]'' 
|Attributed to Shi Jiao
|-
!Mythology
!
|-
|''[[Classic of Mountains and Seas]]''
|A compilation of early geography descriptions of animals and myths from various locations around China.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOUYcJXKrO8C&q=classic+of+mountains+and+seas |title=The Classic of Mountains and Seas |year=2000 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-140-44719-4}}</ref>
|-
|[[Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven]]
|tells the tale of king mu and his quest for immortality and after receiving it sadness over the death of his lover.
|-
!Taoism
!
|-
|''[[Tao Te Ching]]''
|Attributed to [[Laozi]].
|-
|''[[Guan Yinzi]]''{{csni |date=August 2024}}
|Fragment
|-
| ''[[Liezi]]''
|Attributed to [[Lie Yukou]].
|-
| ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]]'' 
|Attributed to [[Zhuang Zhou]].
|-
|''[[Wenzi]]''
|
|}

====Poetry====
{|class=wikitable
!Title
!Description
|-
|''[[Chu Ci]]''
|Aside from the [[Classic of Poetry|Shi Jing]] (see Classics branch) the only surviving pre-Qin poetry collection{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}. Attributed to the southern [[state of Chu]], and especially [[Qu Yuan]].
|}