Zhonglun中論(Balanced Discourses ) quoted Shijing詩經(Book of Songs) about forty-seven times, mainly from Ya雅(hymns) and Song頌(eulogies). Xu Gan徐幹, the author of Balanced Discourses, developed the tradition from Xunzi荀子and other Confucian thinkers in putting Confucian ideas into practice particularly during turbulent years. According to texts passed on to today, the study of poetry in Balanced Discourses mainly focused on Mao Commentary, accompanied by Han韓, Lu魯, and other texts. Previous studies, including Chen Qiaozong's陳喬樅and Wang Xianqian's王先謙examinations of Balanced Discourses for the meaning of Lu, and Ma Ruichen's 馬瑞辰assertion that the poetry quotations in Balanced Discourses exceed those in Han, are all inevitably biased. The coexisting phenomenon of different commentary texts also appeared in several other masters-texts in the late Eastern Han dynasty, which shows the open attitude of Confucian masters in terms of poetry quotations, and further illustrates the diverse scholarship on Book of Songs in Wei and Han dynasties.