The present article is a classification and comprehensive
introduction of the scholars of The Book of Songs and the academic
works during the era of the Three Kingdoms. The following conclusions have been arrived at: first, special attention was consistently paid by scholars to The Book of Songs in this period. Secondly, the status of Lu's, Qi'sand Han's versions of Annotations of The Book of Songs declined continuously, whereas that of Mao's version was on the rise. Thirdly, The Book of Songs was popularized through private schools, individualized teaching by (grand)father and private tutorship by a teacher. Fourthly, the center of the study of The Book of Songs was Jingzhou early in this period, but was shifted to areas under the rule of the Wei Kingdom. Fifthly, Wang Su's theory of The Book of Songs was highly acclaimed, but that of Zheng was still influential. Sixthly, there were some explorations of the meanings and implication in
the theory of The Book of Songs in this period although the focus was still on the critical interpretation of ancient texts in a classical way in which The Book of Songs was not interpreted as a work of literature.