The Commentary of Zuo (5)

Zuo QiumingAug 2024

4.7

Word count: 37K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

The Zuo Tradition (also known as the Zuo Commentary, or Zuo Zhuan for short) mostly uses historical facts to explain the Spring and Autumn Annals. It begins in the first year of Duke Yin of Lu (722 BCE) and ends in the twenty-seventh year of Duke Ai of Lu (472 BCE). Primarily recording events and also including speeches, it narrates in detail and in lively, concise prose, comprehensively reflecting the social and historical landscape of the time. It is both an important Confucian classic and China's first complete annalistic history, and it also achieves a great deal in literature.

Editor's review

As one volume of the Zuo Tradition, this book continues the tradition of explaining the classic through historical facts, covering events from the first year of Duke Yin of Lu to the twenty-seventh year of Duke Ai of Lu. It records events and includes speeches, narrating in detail with concise prose; it is both a Confucian classic and China's first complete annalistic history. Its value for readers lies in two directions: on one hand, concrete historical events illuminate the Annals' method of praise and blame; on the other, the speeches of envoys and ministers convey the vivid achievements of pre-Qin prose. With many figures and interwoven events, the book rewards slow, careful reading; using a chronology or maps to sort out relations among the states deepens one's sense of the complexity of Spring and Autumn diplomacy and ritual. For readers who want both historical training and a feel for classical Chinese, it is a rewarding text worth returning to.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in pre-Qin history and relations among the Spring and Autumn states
Students of Confucian classics who want to understand the Annals' method of praise and blame through historical events
Humanities students who need to improve their reading of classical Chinese
General readers who enjoy annalistic narrative and pre-Qin speeches

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners with no classical Chinese who do not want to consult annotations
Readers who want only light stories and do not care about annalistic structure

Reading tips

Read the contents and chronology first to grasp the time frame of the twelve dukes of Lu before entering the text.
For each event, note the states and figures involved so the threads do not become confused.
When you meet an envoy's speech, read it aloud once to feel its tone and rhetoric, then return to the outcome of the events.

版权信息
定公15年（公元前509年——前495年）
哀公27年（公元前494年——前468年）

FAQ

Can I read the Zuo Tradition without prior knowledge of the Spring and Autumn Annals?

Yes, but it helps to first understand the Annals' basic convention of explaining the classic through historical facts. You need not compare every entry with the classic text; grasp the course of events and the relationships first, then look back at the wording of the classic to understand praise and blame more easily.

Is this book suitable for reading straight through?

Reading it straight through is possible but time-consuming. A more practical approach is to proceed in the order of the dukes of Lu while also reading selected states or events as thematic clusters, keeping the annalistic thread without being slowed by fragmented entries.

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About the author

Zuo Qiuming Author · Chinese

Zuo Qiuming was a historiographer and historian of the State of Lu in the late Spring and Autumn period. He served as Grand Historiographer of Lu and is traditionally credited with authorship of the Zuo Commentary and the Guoyu. His birth and death years cannot be verified with certainty, and public sources are limited; old claims such as 556–451 BCE and 502–422 BCE remain disputed. He is regarded as a founding figure of traditional Chinese historiography, and Confucius is said to have called him a gentleman. Judging from the works attributed to him, he excelled at combining narrative records with recorded speech to portray the rise and fall of the states during the Spring and Autumn period. His writing is meticulous in structure, vivid in character and dialogue, and valuable both as history and as literature. His works are commonly classed under Eastern philosophy, literary appreciation, historical reading, and documentary literature, and have deeply influenced later historical and biographical writing.