"The Analects" is a compilation of the speeches of the thinker Confucius during the Spring and Autumn Period. It is one of the important Confucian classics and is listed as the "jing" in the Siku Quanshu. The pronunciation of "Lun" in "The Analects" is (ㄌㄨㄣˊ)"
For the meaning of discussion and compilation, "language" refers to the meaning of discourse and rhetoric, such as "Guoyu" and "Xinyu", which together refer to the compilation of speech. "Han Shu·Yi Wen Zhi" stated: "For the "Analects", Confucius responded to his disciples, people of the time, and his disciples' expressions and words, and he was informed by the master's words. At that time, the disciples had their own memories. On the compilation, it is called "The Analects of Confucius"."
"The Analects of Confucius" covers many aspects, including the Confucian concept of governing the country, human relations, personal ethics, the social outlook of the pre-Qin period, and even the experience of Confucius and his disciples. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "dismissed a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone," it was revered as "the ruler of the Five Classics and the throat of the six arts."
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi combined "Da Xue", "The Analects", "Mencius", and "The Doctrine of the Mean" into the "Four Books".
The status of "The Analects" in the Confucian classics is increasing day by day. During the Yanyou period of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial examination system began to use the "Four Books" to obtain scholars. Since then, until the Westernization Movement was promoted in the late Qing Dynasty and the imperial examination was abolished, the Analects has been the golden rule for scholars and scholars.