6. a small strip of coloured cloth signifying membership of an order or award of military decoration, prize, or other distinction. 7. a small, usually looped, strip of coloured cloth worn to signify support for a charity or cause: a red AIDS ribbon.
The books burned were Jewish, Marxist, Bolshevik, or other disreputable or non-German books. These included the works of Heinrich Heine, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Albert Einstein, Walter Benjamin, Karl Marx, Jack London and Margaret Sanger.
Qin Shi Huangdi burned all history books. He burned them because they discussed history, or previous regimes, and he did not want 'competition' so to speak. If any rulers or leaders were talked about in books, he had them burned because he was called The Only First; which he came up with himself.