easy application of it is to denote what is regular and insures
regularity. As used with reference to books, it indicates their
authority on the subjects of which they treat. 'The five Ching' are
the five canonical Works, containing the truth upon the highest
subjects from the sages of China, and which should be received as
law by all generations. The term Shu simply means Writings or
Books, = the Pencil Speaking; it may be used of a single character,
or of books containing thousands of characters.
2. 'The five Ching' are: the Yi [3], or, as it has been styled,
'The Book of Changes;' the Shu [4], or 'The Book of History;' the
Shih [5], or 'The Book of Poetry;' the Li Chi [6], or 'Record of Rites;'
and the Ch'un Ch'iu [7], or 'Spring and Autumn,' a chronicle of
events, extending from 722 to 481 B.C. The authorship, or
compilation rather, of all these Works is loosely attributed to
Confucius. But much of the Li Chi is from later hands. Of the Yi,
the Shu, and the Shih, it is only in the first that we find additions
attributed to the philosopher himself, in the shape of appendixes.
The Ch'un Ch'iu is the only one of the five Ching which can, with
an approximation to correctness, be described as of his own
'making.'

1 ¤­¸g.
2 ¥|®Ñ.
3 ©ö¸g.
4 ®Ñ¸g.
5 ¸Ö¸g.
6 夡O.
7 ¬K¬î.