Spring and Autumn Historiography - (Tang Center Early China) by Newell Ann Van Auken (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Spring and Autumn is an annals text composed of brief records covering the period 722-479 BCE. Newell Ann Van Auken argues that record-keepers from the ancient Chinese state of Lu--not a later editor--produced the formally regular core of the text.

Book Synopsis

The Spring and Autumn is an annals text composed of brief records covering the period 722-479 BCE and written from the perspective of the ancient Chinese state of Lu. A long neglected part of the Chinese canon, it is traditionally ascribed to Confucius, who is said to have embedded his evaluations of events within the text. However, the formulaic and impersonal records do not resemble the repository of moral judgments that they are alleged to be.

Driven by her discovery that the Spring and Autumn is governed by a system of rules, Newell Ann Van Auken argues that Lu record-keepers--not a later editor--produced the formally regular core of the text. She demonstrates that the Spring and Autumn employs formulaic phrasing and selective omission to encode the priorities of Lu and to communicate the relative importance of individuals, states, and events, and that many of its records are derived from diplomatic announcements received in Lu from regional states and the Zhou court. The Spring and Autumn is fundamentally a document designed to enhance the prestige of Lu, and its records reveal a profound concern with relative rank, displaying an idealized hierarchy that positions the state of Lu and its rulers at the apex. By establishing the Spring and Autumn as a genuine Bronze Age record, this book transforms our understanding of its significance and purpose, and also offers new approaches to the study of ancient annals in early China and elsewhere.

Review Quotes

[The author's] pioneering reconstruction of the shufa that was actually at work in Lu will become a permanent and indispensable element in Chunqiu scholarship and the study of early historiography.-- "Journal of Asian Studies"

The author's ability to use plain language to discuss--and solve--difficult questions relating to history and textual criticism make the book an invaluable teaching tool, well suited for both under graduate and graduate-level courses--Yegor Grebnev, Beijing Normal University "Journal of the American Oriental Society"

Van Auken has resolved two millennia of scholarly speculation and partial interpretations...Spring and
Autumn Historiography is a remarkable academic achievement.

--Grant Hardy, University of North Carolina at Asheville "Journal of Chinese History"

Lucid and rigorous, this analysis of the Spring and Autumn is the most valuable study we have of this important early Chinese chronicle. Van Auken's careful reconstruction of the formal requirements for event notations in the chronicle dramatically advances our understanding of this crucial type of historiographical activity, calling into doubt the traditional association of the chronicle with Confucius and revealing its function in displaying the hierarchical claims and ambitions of the state of Lu.--David Schaberg, author of A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography

Newell Ann Van Auken's pathbreaking scholarship demolishes the old conventional view of the Spring and Autumn as a dull and uninteresting chronicle. Her elegant analysis of how the text's rule-based formulaic language served the interests of the lords of Lu opens the way to an exciting new view of the political dynamics of early China.--John S. Major, cotranslator of Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn

This book is an eye-opener. Combining philological acumen with theoretical understanding, Van Auken uncovers the regular patterns that underlie the Spring and Autumn. Her analysis of how the text arranges--or omits--information provides unprecedented insight into the history and function of this seemingly enigmatic classic.--Kai Vogelsang, Universität Hamburg

This book-length study of Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn), the first in a Western language, is clearly written and impeccably argued. Through careful analysis, Van Auken convincingly demonstrates that ancient Lu annalists created a rigid verbal form through which they present an idealized and blatantly biased picture of their home state. A brilliant study certain to become a foundation for all subsequent Chunqiu scholarship.--Stephen Durrant, professor emeritus, University of Oregon

About the Author

Newell Ann Van Auken teaches at the University of Iowa. She is the author of The Commentarial Transformation of the Spring and Autumn (2016).