Book of Rites
He was traditionally credited with producing a substantially edited version of the "Book of Rites" ("Li Ji") that bore his name: "Dai the Greater's Book of Rites" (大戴禮記 "Da Dai Li Ji"). It is likely, however, that Dai's prestigious name was attached to a reduced version of the "Book of Rites" in order to legitimate a much-revised text. Traditionally, the preceding version was said to have consisted of an initial 131 essays (篇 "pian"), to which an additional 83 were subsequently added. Dai is said to have reduced the resulting 214 essays to 85, which his nephew, Dai Sheng, was then supposed to have further reduced too 46. 3 additional essays were added later to reach a final total of 49. There is no reliable evidence, however, to attribute these revisions to either Dai De or Dai Sheng, both of whom were, nevertheless, trained as Confucian scholars specializing in various texts concerning "codes of conduct" (禮 "li"). Dai's reputed influence on these related texts, which include the "Rites of Zhou" and the "Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial", is equally uncertain.