Chapter 14 Chapter 4 Early Chinese Chronicles - "Spring and Autumn", "Zuo Zhuan" and others

"Spring and Autumn" was originally a common name for the official history of various countries in ancient times.In the era of oracle bone inscriptions, there were only two seasons in a year, spring and autumn.Later, a year was divided into four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, but the major events of the court were still carried out in spring and autumn, so the ancients paid special attention to spring and autumn.Official historians record the major national events throughout the year, and they also call the history of the country "Spring and Autumn". "Mozi Ming Gui Pian" has such sayings as "Zhou Dynasty's "Spring and Autumn", "Yanzhi's "Spring and Autumn", "Song's "Spring and Autumn", "Qi's "Spring and Autumn", which refer to the Zhou Dynasty and Yan, Song and Qi countries have their own history books.Later, the history books of various countries were lost, and only the "Spring and Autumn" of Lu State has been handed down to this day, so "Spring and Autumn" has become a special name for the history of Lu State.Confucius was the first person in history who opened doors to teach disciples and taught cultural classics to ordinary people. He taught students six compulsory homework, namely "poems, books, rites, music, changes, and spring and Autumn", which is the so-called " Six arts".History is one of the six compulsory courses. Confucius used the "Spring and Autumn" compiled by the official of the State of Lu as his textbook. Therefore, "Spring and Autumn" has become an important classic of Confucianism.In ancient times, characters could only be inscribed on oracle bones, gold stones or bamboo slips, and it was extremely difficult to spread them.Thanks to the hard work of the next generation of Confucius students, Lu's "Spring and Autumn" can be handed down among the people.

The book "Spring and Autumn", with more than 16,000 characters in existence, records the major historical events in the 242 years from the first year of Lu Yin to the fourteenth year of Duke Ai of Lu, that is, from 772 BC to 480 BC.Therefore, later generations called these 242 years the Spring and Autumn Period. "Spring and Autumn" is a letter history, that is to say, the historical materials in the book are true and reliable.For example, among the 34 solar eclipses that occurred in Lu State, 33 of them were confirmed to be reliable by the precise calculation of modern scientific methods. The records of "Spring and Autumn" can be corroborated by many cultural relics and ancient books unearthed in succession in later generations. "Spring and Autumn" is an official history book compiled by the State of Lu, which adopts the chronology of the State of Lu, but the content recorded is not limited to the history of the State of Lu itself, but the major events of various vassal states during the Spring and Autumn Period.In addition to some ancient documents preserved in "Shangshu", "Spring and Autumn" is the only historical book about the history before the Qin Dynasty that has been preserved relatively completely in my country. Its historical value is very precious.

The memorabilia of "Spring and Autumn" is very brief. It basically records one thing in one line, and most of them only have a few simple words, just like memorizing only one title.Its longest line is only more than 40 characters, and the shortest line is only one character, as recorded in the eighth year of Yin Gong: "荟".With such a simple and ancient record, people cannot understand the details of the incident.If you want to learn history, you have to rely on older people who are familiar with major historical events to teach, and let them make more detailed narration and explanation of the brief records in "Spring and Autumn".This has "biography".The so-called "biography" is the meaning of explanation.There are three kinds of biography handed down now: "Zuo Zhuan", "Gongyang Biography" and "Guliang Biography".Together they are called the "Three Biography of Spring and Autumn".

The records of ancient historians have two functions, one is to truly record historical facts, and the other is to include the intention of encouraging good and punishing evil in historical records.In fact, from ancient times to the present, any writing has a certain degree of praise and emotion. It is just that in ancient times, due to the complexity of writing and the different writing tools and material conditions, historians could only use the most refined writing to record events. Pay attention.In the process of teaching history, some Confucian scholars of later generations overestimated the persuasive and punitive functions of words, and made many "one-word praises and criticisms" and "small words and big meanings" far-fetchedly. It is an honor to be a prince, and a word of derogation is more shameful than beheading you as a criminal. Exaggerating and chewing between the lines in the history books, the result becomes more and more cumbersome and bizarre. Among the three biographies of "Spring and Autumn", "Biography of Gongyang" and "Biography of Guliang" are dedicated to the subtle words and righteousness of "Spring and Autumn".Therefore, neither of these two kinds of books has any historical value, and they cannot be regarded as real history books, so we can leave them alone. "Zuo Zhuan" mainly focuses on narrative, with detailed and specific records and concise and vivid writing style. It is not only a masterpiece of history, but also a masterpiece of literature.