The Book of Rites (Li Ji 禮記) presents itself less as a single, linear treatise and more as a carefully preserved anthology. The received text consists of 49 chapters or “pian” (篇), each relatively self-contained and devoted to a particular facet of ritual propriety, social order, or moral cultivation. Rather than unfolding according to a strict chronological or systematic plan, the work is organized topically, with chapters varying in length, style, and literary form. Some appear as dialogues, often placing Confucius at the center of reflection; others read as expository essays, prescriptive lists, or narrative illustrations. This composite character reflects a long process of compilation and editing, in which diverse ritual and ethical traditions were gathered under a single title.

Within this anthology, several broad thematic currents can be discerned, even if they are not marked off as formal “parts” in the text itself. A substantial group of chapters treats the foundations of ritual and moral principle, explaining what li (ritual propriety) is, how it is grounded in the larger order of Heaven and Earth, and how it shapes human character and social harmony. Other chapters focus on social roles and hierarchy, detailing proper conduct between ruler and minister, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger, and setting out the etiquette of speech, movement, clothing, and precedence. Still others turn to life‑cycle rites—coming‑of‑age, marriage, mourning, burial, and ancestral sacrifice—offering highly concrete descriptions of procedures and periods of grief, and showing how an entire life is framed by ritual.

A further set of chapters addresses political and administrative rites, portraying ritual as the very framework of governance. Here the text outlines court protocol, official dress, audiences, communication between ruler and ministers, and the ritual ordering of bureaucracy, warfare, taxation, and public ceremonies. Closely related are chapters on seasonal, ancestral, and sacrificial rites, which specify offerings to Heaven, Earth, various spirits, and ancestors, often with attention to timing, vessels, sacrificial animals, and the arrangement of participants. Alongside these institutional concerns, the Book of Rites also devotes considerable space to education and self‑cultivation, describing curricula, the teacher‑student relationship, stages of learning, and the use of posture, speech, music, and study as instruments of moral training.

Certain chapters have come to be especially prominent in later tradition, not because they stand apart structurally, but because they crystallize key Confucian insights. “Great Learning” (Da Xue) and “Doctrine of the Mean” (Zhong Yong), though later canonized as separate classics, originally functioned as chapters within this larger collection, articulating themes of self‑cultivation, governance, balance, and harmony. “Evolution of the Rites” (Li Yun) reflects on the historical development of ritual and famously includes the vision of “Great Unity” (datong), while “Record of Music” (Yue Ji) explores the role of music in moral life and social order. Taken together, these chapters reveal a work whose organization is best understood as a constellation of essays and records that both describe concrete ceremonies and probe the philosophical principles that give those ceremonies meaning.