 It is a collection of some 300 anecdotes and stories chosen to highlight the poems of the "Shi jing" ("Book of Poetry").The "Book of Poetry", said to have been edited by Confucius, was among the texts suppressed during the Qin dynasty, but survived in four slightly different versions.The version preserved in the Mao family, known as the "Mao shi", is the most-complete and best known.