Confucian learning was divided into the four fields of moral conduct, rhetoric, government and letters; and Emperor Wendi (ruled 424-453) of the Southern Dynasties Song period divided scholarship into metaphysics, Confucianist learning, letters and history.
孔門之學即分德行、言語、政事、文學四科；南朝宋文帝將大學分為「玄」、「儒」、「文」、「史」四學。