A. About ¡°Spring and Autumn Annals¡±. Together with The Book of Song, the Historical Documentation, the Book of Rites, the Book of Music, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals have been referred to as the Six Classics. The earliest evidence of such a reference can be found in ¡°The Natural Course of Event¡± of the Book of Zhu¨¡ngz¨« and the portion of ¡°Decoding Classics¡± in the Book of Rites. The Spring and Autumn Annals was the history of the State of L¨³. It was said that Confucius once personally revised it. The history of some other countries were also called ¡°spring and autumn annals¡±, for instance, the history of the States of Zh¨u, Y¨¤n, S¨°ng, Q¨ª. But the history of the State of J¨¬n was called ¡°ch¨¦ng ³Ë¡± and the history of the State of Ch¨³ was called ¡°T¨¢ow¨´—ƒè».¡±
A) Who wrote ¡°The Spring and Autumn Annals¡±?
A map of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring periods
There are two opposite opinions on this matter. One holds that the annals were written or revised by Confucius. The Book of Mencius, Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary, S¨ªm¨£ Qi¨¢n who wrote The Record of the Grand Historian and D¨´ Y¨´ held such an opinion.Those who held opposite opinions were Li¨² Zh¨©j¨« of T¨¢ng Dynasty, W¨¢ng ?nsh¨ª of the S¨°ng Dynasty. In modern times G¨´ Xi¨¦g¨¡ng, Qi¨¢n Xu¨¢nt¨®ng and Y¨¢ng B¨®j¨´n thought the annals were written by someone else.
B) The value of the annals and its construction
The annals contain over sixteen thousand characters. It recorded what happened in the State of L¨³ and other states in the 244 years since the first year of the reign of Duke Y¨«n of L¨³ (B.C. 722) to the 16th year of Duke ?i of L¨³ (B.C. 479) . The annals was a guardian of the social system practised in the Zh¨u Dynasty; it also prescribed what later generations should follow, and ways of replacing old codes and laws.
The annals is China¡¯s first work of historical value, China¡¯s first book of chronicle history. It set a precedent for the composition of chronicle history writing.
It recorded important natural phenomenons, such as solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, meteorolite, flood, draught, plague of insects, earth quakes and etc. For instance it recorded 36 solar eclipse, and 33 of them are identical to those inferred from modern astronomy.
It recorded politics, military and economic situations in all states.
It recorded how unions of states, diplomacy, protocols and marriages were conducted.
It established a system for recording events.
B. Who was the author of ¡°Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡±?
A sample of Zu¨¯¡¯ s Commentary.
There are four opinions on this matter:
1. It came into being at the later period of the Spring and Autumn period. The purpose of the book was to explain the Annals. It was Zu¨¯ Qi¨±m¨ªng (×óÇðÃ÷) who wrote it. This opinion was held by ¡°The Record of the Grand Historian¡±, ¡°The History of H¨¤n¡±, ¡°The History of Later H¨¤n¡± and ¡°Preface to Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals¡± by D¨´ Y¨´ (¶ÅÔ¤).
2. It came into being in the early period of the Warring States period. The author was not Zu¨¯ Qi¨±m¨ªng; the author was a disciple of Confucius, or a student of one of the disciples; and it might be W¨² Q¨« (ÎâÆð) or someone else. This opinion was held by modern scholars such as Zh¨¢ng T¨¤iy¨¢n (ÕÂÌ«Ñ×), Qi¨¢n M¨´ (Ç®ÄÂ), W¨¨i J¨´xi¨¢n (ÎÀ¾ÛÏÍ), X¨² Zh¨ngsh¨± (ÐìÖÐÊæ), and Y¨¢ng B¨®j¨´n (Ñî²®¾þ).
3. It came into being before the mid-Warring States period by a number of scholars at various times and was started by Zu¨¯. G¨´ Y¨¢nw¨³ (¹ËÑ×Îä) and Y¨¢o N¨£i £¨Ò¦Ø¾£©of the Q¨©ng Dynasty and Sh¨§n Y¨´ch¨¦ng of today shared this opinion.
4. It came into being in the Eastern H¨¤n period and it was faked by Li¨² X¨©n (Áõì§). Q¨©ng scholars Li¨² F¨¦ngl¨´ (Áõ·ê») and K¨¡ng Y¨¯uw¨¦i (¿µÓÐΪ), modern scholars G¨´ Xi¨¦g¨¡ng and Qi¨¢n Xu¨¢nt¨®ng were in such an opinion.
C. The relations between ¡°Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡± and the ¡°Annals¡±
One opinion was that the purpose of the commentary was to give connotations to the annals. Another opinion was that the commentary was an independent work itself, had no direct relation with the annals.
Scholars have identified some discrepancies between the two, for instance:
1) There are places in the annals have no connotation;
2) There are places in the commentary have no corresponding part in the annals;
3) The corresponding parts in the two do not talk about the same thing;
4) Some words in the annals are different from the commentary;
5) There are contents that were added in the commentary after what was stated in the annals.
There are obvious similarities of the two. Despite of the above, most parts in the two are identical. In particular the commentary explained the structure of the annals and pointed out how to use or consult the annals. In many cases the commentary expounded in detail the principles stated in the annals.
D. Studies of the commentary in various periods.
1) In the Warring States period
A contemporary copy of the Commentary
In the Warring States period, the Book of X¨²nz¨« quoted a great amount from the commentary. ¡°Strategies of the Warring States¡±, ¡°Spring and Autumn by L¨·¡± and ¡°The Book of H¨¢n F¨¥iz¨«¡± also quoted from the commentary. Li¨² Xi¨¤ng (ÁõÏò77 B.C.-6 B.C.)£¬ a scholar of the Western H¨¤n left such words in his ¡°Record for the Alternative¡± (¡¶±ð¼¡·): Zu¨¯ taught Z¨¥ng Sh¨¥n, Z¨¥ng taught W¨² Q¨«, who taught his son Q¨©, Q¨© taught Du¨® Ji¨¡o who taught Y¨² X¨¬n; Y¨² taught X¨²nz¨«; X¨²n taught Zh¨¢ng C¨¡ng.
2) In the H¨¤n Dynasty: From Zh¨¢ng C¨¡ng at the early stage of the Western H¨¤n to Li¨² X¨©n of Eastern H¨¤n, the teaching of the commentary was in the old script. One thing to be noted is that Zu¨¯¡¯s commentary was not officially supported, unlike G¨ngy¨¢ng¡¯s Commentary and G¨³li¨¢ng¡¯s Commentary, both were textbooks in schools sponsored by the government. The studies of Zu¨¯¡¯s commentary by Li¨² X¨©n was most remarkable.
3) The Three-Kingdoms and the Two J¨¬n periods can be represented by the studies of two scholars: W¨¢ng S¨´ (ÍõËà) and D¨´ Y¨´.
4) The Su¨ª, T¨¢ng and the Five Dynasties periods can be represented by the studies of Li¨² Zhu¨® (ÁõìÌ), Li¨² Xu¨¢n (ÁõìÅ), K¨¯ng Y¨«ngd¨¢ (¿×Ó±´ï), Li¨² Zh¨©j¨« (ÁõÖª¼¸), D¨¤n Zh¨´ (à¢Öú), Zh¨¤o Ku¨¡ng (ÕÔ¿ï), L¨´ Ch¨²n (½´¾) and F¨¦ng J¨¬xi¨¡n (·ë¼ÌÏÈ). Among them the achievement of K¨¯ng was most outstanding.
A portrait of K¨¯ng Y¨«ngd¨¢.
5) In the S¨°ng and Yu¨¢n periods, S¨²n F¨´ (Ë︴), H¨² Yu¨¢n (ºúè¥), S¨²n Ju¨¦ (Ëï¾õ), Li¨² Ch¨£ng (Áõ³¨), W¨¢ng ?nsh¨ª (Íõ°²Ê¯), S¨± Sh¨¬ (ËÕéø), H¨² ?ngu¨® (ºú°²¹ú), Y¨¨ M¨¨ngd¨¦ (Ò¶ÃεÃ), Zh¨± X¨© (Öììä), L¨· Z¨³qi¨¡n (ÂÀ×æÇ«), Ch¨¦ng G¨ngyu¨¨ (³Ì¹«Ëµ), Ch¨¦ng Xu¨¦du¨¡n (³Ìѧ¶Ë) and L¨´ C¨¤n (½ôÓ) all arrived at new levels in their studies.
6) The studies in the Q¨©ng period were most remarkable, especially in the field of textual research. The representative scholars were Y¨´ Y¨¢nw¨³ (¹ËÑ×Îä), M¨£ Xi¨¡o (ÂíÐ¥), G¨¢o Sh¨¬q¨ª (¸ßÊ¿Ææ), Ch¨¦n H¨°uy¨¤o (³ÂºñÒ«), G¨´ D¨°ngg¨¡o (¹Ë¶°¸ß), Ru¨£n Yu¨¢n (ÈîÔª), Hu¨¬ D¨°ng (»Ý¶°), H¨®ng Li¨¤ngj¨ª (ºéÁÁ¼ª), K¨¡ng Y¨¯uw¨¦i (¿µÓÐΪ) and Li¨² Sh¨©p¨¦i (ÁõʦÅà).
E. The studies of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary today
The accomplished scholars in this study are T¨®ng Sh¨±y¨¨ (ͯÊéÒµ), Y¨¢ng B¨j¨´n (Ñî²®¾þ), X¨² Zh¨ngsh¨± (ÐìÖÐÊæ)¡¢X¨² R¨¦nf¨³ (ÐìÈʸ¦) and Sh¨§n Y¨´ch¨¦ng (ÉòÓñ³É). T¨®ng published ¡°Studies of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals¡± (Published by Sh¨¤ngh¨£i People¡¯s Publishing House in 1980), in which he surveyed legends, various figures, wars, unions and leagues, codes and acts and cultural related issues.
A collection of T¨®ng Sh¨±y¨¨¡¯s works published by Sh¨¤ngh¨£i People¡¯s Publishing House It took Y¨¢ng ten years to complete his work ¡°Annotations to Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡±, which has been regarded as the most influential book of annotation.
Annotation of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary by Y¨¢ng B¨j¨´n
X¨² Zh¨ngsh¨±¡¯s ¡°Notes to Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡± (China Books Bureau 1963) was arranged according to different event and persons. X¨² R¨¦nf¨³¡¯s main achievement was in his searching of proof of dates and the author as reflected in his ¡°The Textual Research of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡± (S¨¬chu¨¡n People¡¯s Publishing House 1981).
The book by X¨² Zh¨ngsh¨±
The book by X¨² R¨¦nf¨±
Sh¨§n and his daughter wrote ¡°Manuscript of the Studies of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡± (published by Ji¨¡ngs¨± Ancient Books Publishing House 1992) was an first effort in the history of the studies. Sh¨§n also published ¡°Translations of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary¡± (China Book Bureau 1981) , which was the first complete translation into Modern Chinese of Zu¨¯¡¯s commentary.
Sh¨§n Y¨´ch¨¦ng¡¯s translation of Zu¨¯¡¯s Commentary into modern Chinese Studies of the commentary from the perspective of humanity had been going on by Qi¨¢n Zh¨ngsh¨± (Ç®ÖÓÊé), Gu¨ Y¨´h¨¦ng (¹ùÔ¤ºâ), C¨¢o D¨¤oh¨¦ng (²ÜµÀºâ) and M¨° L¨¬f¨¦ng (Īí·æ)£»scholars who have been studying the commentary from the angle of language are Gu¨£n Xi¨¨ch¨± (¹ÜÛƳõ) and H¨¦ L¨¨sh¨¬ (ºÎÀÖÊ¿). I wish to say that Zu¨¯¡¯s commentary is more popular than the other two commentaries, because some parts of it have been included into Chinese language textbooks and those who have had middle school education all know about this commentary and the author. But, there have been few who have read the book from the first page to the last. Those who did are researchers of history or ancient Chinese.
