Spring and Autumn Annals

The Spring and Autumn Annals is the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from to 481 BCE. It is the earliest surviving Chinese historical text to be arranged on 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 the traditional ''Commentary of Zuo''.

Because it was traditionally regarded as having been compiled by Confucius , 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; this is now assigned to various chroniclers from the State of Lu.

Content and organization

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 numerous ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' of , , and . 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 Chinese sexagenary cycle. 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.

Commentaries

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''
* The ''Commentary of Jia''
* The ''Commentary of Gongyang''
* The ''Commentary of Guliang''
* The ''Commentary of Zuo''

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 to 468 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''.