Spring and Autumn Annals
The
Spring and Autumn Annals (, also known as 麟" Línjīng) is the official chronicle of the
State of Lu covering the period from
722 BCE to
481 BCE. It is the earliest surviving Chinese historical text to be arranged on
annalistic principles. The text is extremely concise, and if we excluded all of the commentaries is about 16,000 words long, thus its meaning can only be appreciated with the aid of ancient commentaries, especially with the tradition
Commentary of Zuo.
Because it was traditionally regarded as having been compiled by
Confucius (after a claim to this effect by
Mencius), it was included as one of the
Five Classics of Chinese literature. However, few modern scholars believe that Confucius had much influence on the formation of the text but various chroniclers from the State of Lu.
In early China, "spring and autumn" was a commonly used
metonymy for the year as a whole, and the phrase was used as a title for the chronicles of several Chinese states during this period. For examples, the chapter of
Obvious Existence of Ghosts in the
Mozi refers to a numerous of
Spring and Autumn Annals of
Zhou,
Yan,
Song and
Qi. All these texts are now lost; only the chronicle of the
State of Lu has survived.
The scope of events recorded in the book is quite limited. The focus is on various feudal states' diplomatic relations, alliances and military actions, as well as births and deaths among the ruling families. The chronicle also takes note of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, locusts and solar eclipses, since these were seen as reflecting the influence of heaven on the world of humans.
Events are narrated in chronological order, dated by the reign-year of the Duke of Lu, the season, the month and the day according to the cycle year of
jiazi. The annalistic structure is followed strictly, to the extent of listing the four seasons of each year even when no events are recorded.
The style is terse and impersonal, and gives no clue as to the actual authorship.
Since the text of this book is terse and its contents limited, a number of commentaries were composed to explain and expand on its meanings. The
Book of Han vol. 30 lists five commentaries:
* The
Commentary of Zou ('氏傳)
* The
Commentary of Jia (夾氏傳)
* The
Commentary of Gongyang (公羊傳)
* The
Commentary of Guliang (榖梁傳)
* The
Commentary of Zuo (左氏傳)
No text of the Zou or Jia commentaries has survived. The Gongyang and Guliang commentaries were compiled during the
2nd century BCE, although modern scholars had suggested they probably incorporate earlier written and oral traditions of explanation from the period of
Warring States. They are based upon different editions of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and are phrased as questions and answers.
The Commentary of Zuo, composed in the early
4th century BCE, is a general history covering the period from
722 BCE to
463 BCE. Modern scholars disagree about whether it is truly a commentary on the
Spring and Autumn Annals or an independent work. In any case, scholars have found it by far the most useful among the three surviving 'commentaries' both as a historical source for the period and as a guide to interpreting the
Annals.
*Cheng, Anne (1993). "Ch'un ch'iu 春秋, Kung yang 公羊, Ku liang 榖梁 and Tso chuan 左傳", pp.67-76 in Loewe, Michael (ed.) "Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide", (Early China Special Monograph Series No. 2), Society for the Study of Early China, and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, ISBN 1-55729-043-1
*
Full text of Spring and Autumn Annals (Chinese)
*
Chinese Literature - Spring and Autumn Annals Chinaknowledge.de
