The term 'Chinese classics' appears frequently in modern literature,but few dictionaries have included it as an entry.In the academic world,'Chinese classics' is usually used to refer to classics of China,but this term is not what it has always been in history.In the Chinese context,'Chinese classics' first appeared in Yang Xiong's  Fangyan .For more than one thousand years after that,from the Wei and Jin dynasties through Sui,Tang,Song,Yuan,Ming to the Qing dynasty,the term meant 'the classics of Han dynasty'.In the Japanese context,when used in comparison to 'Japanese classics','Chinese classics' refers to Chinese books|when used in comparison to 'washo (Japanese books)',it refers to classics written in Chinese|and when used in comparison to 'Buddhist books',it refers to Confucian classics.In modern Chinese,'Chinese classics' has inherited its traditional senses from the Chinese language and absorbed new senses from Japanese as well.The coinage 'Chinese classics' not only refers to the traditional history,philosophy and literature of Confucian classics,but also contains Sutra,Buddhist books,books copied on silk,bamboo or wooden slips,inscriptions,and hymn texts written on pictures.Nowadays,in their study on 'Overseas Chinese classics',researchers have come up with their own definitions,some of which are rather casual,resulting in confusion in the understanding of 'Chinese classics'.If 'Chinese classics' are the crystallization of Chinese civilization,'Overseas Chinese classics' should be defined as books written in Chinese but published outside China,which reflect the wisdom of overseas Chinese and that of foreigners as well.They are cultural innovations inspired by Chinese civilization,and form a unique East Asian civilization landscape characterized as 'harmony without sameness'.