Da Xue 大学 (The Great Learning) and Zhong Yong 中庸 (The Doctrine of the Mean) were originally in Li Ji 礼记 (The Record of Rites). It was Zhu Xi 朱熹 the famous Song dynasty compiler and commentator who had taken both Da Xue and Zhong Yong out of the Li Ji and put them together with Lun Yu (The Analects) and Mencius 孟子 to form the Four Books 四书 of the Confucian Classics. The Four Books, along with the Five Classics 五经, were adopted as the core curriculum for the imperial examination in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Great Learning is the shortest of the Four Books but its influence is no less far reaching. This is due to its emphasis on how meticulous study can assist individual moral cultivation, which can then influence and transform others, so that ultimately, social harmony and political order can be realized.