Shuo yuan , obtaining extensively materials from the zhou dynasty , the qin dynasty , jing and zi to the miscellaneous books written by the people in the han dynasty 《说苑》一书,取材广泛,上至周秦经子,下及汉人杂著, “以类相从,一一条别篇目” ( 《说苑叙录》 ) 。
2.
Among them , the most simple part is the historical books which takes the narrative history and imperial mandates as its heart . the majority of these chapters might be done by a person at a certain time , or be done according to the historical records about zhou dynasty . the book on politics , the book on military strategy and tactics , the book on propriety were completed by later generations layer by layer , there are raw materials and also contain the supplementary writings of the spring and autumn and the warring states , even the interpretation of people in han dynasty 其中有西周完成的，有根据西周材料在春秋时期写成的，也有根据春秋时写成的文献再度增补发挥的，还有根据史实在战国后期改编的。因而，这部书中的文献，体现了先秦文献形成过程和先秦至汉代书籍内容的一般特点。当然，它也有与众不同之处：它是各种类型文献的杂纂，内容非一家之言，而是经子兼备，它可能是“周公传书”与“太公传书”的整合。
