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Sì shu wǔ jing (四書五經), the Four Books and the Five Classics, were mandated study of those Confucian scholars who wished to become government officials. Any political discussion was full of references to this background and one couldn't be one of the literati, or even a military officer, without knowing them perfectly.

Chinese children first studied the Chinese characters with the Hundred Family Surnames (Bai Jia Xing) and the Three Character Classic (三字經 San Zi Jing). Then, they studied the following Classics, in order to climb the social hierarchy.

1 List of Chinese classic texts

1.1 The Four Books (四書 Sì shu)

• The Great Learning, (大學 Dà Xué), the name of a chapter in the Classic of Rites .
• The Doctrine of the Golden Mean (中庸 Zhong Yóng), the name of another chapter in the Classic of Rites .
• The Analects of Confucius (論語 Lùn Yǔ), a book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius and recorded by his disciples.
• The Mencius (孟子 Mèng Zǐ), a book of conversations between Mencius and some kings of his time.

1.2 The Five ClassicsThe Five Classics (, Wjing) is a corpus of five ancient chinese books used by Confucianism as the basis of studies. According to tradition, they were compilated or edited by Confucius himself. The Classic of Poetry (, Shijing) # The Classic of History (, (五經 Wǔ jing)

• The Classic of Poetry (詩經 Shi Jing), 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 probably a compilation from Confucius.
• The Classic of HistoryThe Classic of History (/ Shu Jing is a collection of documents and speeches alleged to have been written by rulers and officials of the early Zhou period and before. It contains examples of early Chinese prose. The book is considered one of the Chinese F (書經 Shu Jing) is a collection of documents and speeches alleged to have been written by rulers and officials of the early Zhou period and before. It contains examples of early Chinese prose.
• The Book of Changes or I Ching (易經 Yì Jing), a manual of divination based on the eight trigrams attributed to the mythical emperor Fu Xi. (By Confucius' time these eight trigrams had been multiplied to sixty-four hexagramA hexagram is any of the sixty-four sets of solid and broken lines used in the Chinese classic text I Ching''. Each of these consists of two trigrams, and may be referred to either by its own name and number or as one trigram over another. A hexagram (alss.) The I Ching is still used by adherents of folk religion.
• The Classic of Rites (禮記 Lǐ Jì), social forms and ceremonies (also spelled Liki), a restoration of the original Lijing, lost in the third century B.C., describes ancient rites and court ceremonies.
• The Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋 Chun Qiu, also known as 麟經 Lín Jing), a historical record of the state of Lu , Confucius' native state, from 722 B.C. to 479 B.C. written (or edited) by Confucius, with implied condemnation of usurpations, murder, incest, etc.
• The Classic of Music (樂經) is sometime referred to as the sixth classic, but is lost.