The Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋 Chūn Qiū, also known as 麟經 Lín Jīng) 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 its meaning can only be appreciated with the aid of ancient commentaries, especially the Zuo Zhuan. Lu ( Chinese: 魯國; pinyin: ) was an ancient state in China during the Spring and Autumn Period. ... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC 740s BC 730s BC - 720s BC - 710s BC 700s BC 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC Events and Trends 728 BC - Piye invades Egypt, conquering Memphis and receives the submission of the rulers... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC Years: 486 BC 485 BC 484 BC 483 BC 482 BC _ 481 BC _ 480 BC... Annals are a form of historical writing which record events year by year. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

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 article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... The Five Classics (五經, Wǔjīng) is a corpus of five ancient Chinese books used by Confucianism as the basis of studies. ...

Title

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 "Explaining Ghosts" (明鬼) chapter of the Mozi refers to the "Zhou Spring and Autumn", the "Yan Spring and Autumn", the "Song Spring and Autumn", and the "Qi Spring and Autumn". All these texts are now lost; only the chronicle of the state of Lu has survived. In rhetoric and cognitive linguistics, metonymy (in Greek meta = after/later and onoma = name) is the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity. ... Mozi (c. ... The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC to late 9th century BC - 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ... State of Yan (small seal script, 220 BC) Yan (pinyin: yan1, simplified Chinese/traditional Chinese: 燕) was a state during the Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods in China. ... State of Qi (small seal script, 220 BC) See Qi (disambiguation) for other meanings of Qi. Qi (齊; pinyin: qi2) was a relatively powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States. ...

Content and organisation

The scope of events recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals 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 jiazi cycle. The annalistic structure is followed strictly, to the extent of listing the four seasons of each year even when no events are recorded.

Commentaries

Since the text of the Spring and Autumn Annals is terse and its contents limited, a number of commentaries were composed to explain and expand on its meanings. The Book of Han lists five commentaries (or 'traditions'): The Book of Han (Ch: 漢書, Hanshu) is a classic Chinese historical writing covering the history of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE-9 CE). ...

• The Zou Commentary (邹氏传)
• The Xia Commentary (夹氏传)
• The Gongyang Commentary (公羊传)
• The Guliang Commentary (谷梁传)
• The Zuo Commentary or Zuo Zhuan (左传 or 左氏传)

No text of the Zou or Xia commentaries has survived. The Gongyang and Guliang commentaries were compiled during the Han Dynasty, although they probably incorporate earlier written and oral traditions of explanation. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Han commanderies and kingdoms AD 2. ...

The Zuo Zhuan, composed in the early fifth 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.