The
Book of Rites or
Liji, literally the
Record of Rites, is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the
Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the
Warring States and the early
Han periods. The
Book of Rites, along with the
Rites of Zhou (
Zhouli) and the
Book of Etiquette and Rites (
Yili), which are together known as the "Three Li (
San li)," constitute the ritual (
li) section of the
Five Classics which lay at the core of the traditional
Confucian canon (Each of the "five" classics is a group of works rather than a single text). As a core text of the Confucian canon, it is also known as the
Classic of Rites (
Lijing), which some scholars believe was the original title before it was changed by
Dai Sheng.