Four-Branch Classification
Updated 2026-08-16
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The Four-Branch Classification is the mainstream scheme for organizing Chinese classical texts. It originated in the Wei-Jin period, when Xun Xu used the labels A, B, C, and D for Classics, Masters, History, and Literature in his catalog, and the order later settled into Classics, History, Masters, and Literature. It served as the top-level structure of traditional knowledge, giving every text a fixed place in a single map.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Map knowledge: place any classical work by branch rather than by title - Build a skeleton: use the four branches as the top-level categories of a knowledge base - Classify by content: judge which branch a work belongs to from its substance alone
Anchor fast decisions
The four branches cover the whole corpus without overlap: Classics anchors the Confucian canon, History records events, Masters gathers the hundred schools, and Literature collects belles-lettres. Sorting every text into one of four mutually exclusive boxes gives any collection a stable address system, so knowledge can be located, compared, and extended.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%9B%E9%83%A8%E5%88%86%E9%A1%9E%E6%B3%95verified
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