The Four Books' Elevation to Canonical Status and their Study in the Song Dynasty:Interpretation of Confucian Classics in the Transformation from Han Xue to Song Xue

The rise to prominence in the Song Dynasty of study of the Four Books marked an epochal transformation from han xue to song xue in study of the Confucian classics.And it was the staged elevation to canonical status of the Four Books(the Great Learning,the Doctrine of the Mean,the Analects and the Mencius)from the Han and Tang Dynasties on that provided the intellectual source for this transformation.By the Song Dynasty,the Four Books had all been elevated to canonical status as Confucian classics,leaving behind their original status as philosophers' writings and commentaries.The rise of the study of the Four Books directly contributed to the transformation from han xue to song xue,a transformation which started from the new system of interpretation of the Confucian classics established by Wang Tong(584-617)and Han Yu(768-824)in the Sui and the Tang Dynasties in the course of the movement to give the books canonical status.Wang Anshi(1021-1086)further promoted the study of the Four Books by including them in official learning.Cheng Hao(1032-1085)and Cheng Yi(1033-1107)set up a neo-Confucian framework for the study of the Four Books.When Zhu Xi(1130-1200)finally set up his composite system of li yi fen shu(unity of theoretical noumenon and practical functions),the Four Books became the core of the thirteen Confucian classics.