Shih Ching

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Shih Ching. Scripture of Song Lyrics (also rendered as Odes, Poems, or Songs), one of the three pre-Confucian Classics. The Lyrics are songs of court and countryside, some dating back perhaps as far as the 8th or 9th cent. BCE. They were the fountainhead of all Chinese poetry in the form called shih (poems to be sung). Beyond their intrinsic value, they are of importance in understanding archaic Chinese society and its religion.