Professor Granet was more than a Sinologue; he was equally, if not primarily, a sociologist and a product of the severe and solid training he received at the Ecole Normale Superieure. The book consists of two parts; one on "The Love Songs of Shih Ching," another on the historical reconstruction of "The Ancient Festivals." Granet brought a new interpretation to the study of Chinese Songs and Odes. Granet, in his list of rules for properly reading the Odes, wrote that readers should "take no account of the standard interpretation", "reject in no uncertain terms the distinction drawn between songs evicting a good state of morals and songs attesting to perverted morality", and "[discard] all symbolic interpretations, and likewise any interpretation that supposes a refined technique on the part of the poets."