As a core text of the Confucian canon, it is also known as the Classic of Rites or Lijing, which some scholars believe was the original title before it was changed by Dai Sheng.

[1] Some sections consist of definitions of ritual terms, particularly those found in the Etiquette and Ceremonial, while others contain details of the life and teachings of Confucius.

[2] Parts of the text have been traced to such pre-Han works as the Xunzi and Lüshi Chunqiu, while others are believed to date from the Former Han period.

When Zheng Xuan, a student of Ma Rong, composed his annotated text of the Rites he combined all of the traditions of ritual learning to create a fixed edition of the 49 books which are the standard to this day.

Since the tomb was sealed around 300 BCE, the find reactivated academic arguments about the dating of the other Liji chapters by the Warring States period.

Following the decision of the Yuan dynasty (followed by the Ming and Qing) to make the Five Classics and the Four Books the orthodox texts of the Confucian traditions, they were the standard textbooks for the state civil examination, from 1313 to 1905, which every educated person had to study intensively.