THIS BOOK is the first complete English translation of the
Chunqiu fanlu, a compendium that has been associated with the Han-dynasty Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu (ca. 195–104
B.C.E.) since the sixth century
C.E., when the title of this work first began to appear in bibliographical treatises.
1 As the title suggests, the book ostensibly draws on the
Spring and Autumn (
Chunqiu, a chronicle kept by the dukes of the state of Lu from 722 to 481
B.C.E.) as a source of “luxuriant gems” (
fanlu) of wisdom, especially about the organization and conduct of government.
2 By the beginning of the Han dynasty (206
B.C.E.–220
C.E.), many intellectuals had come to believe that the
Spring and Autumn had been written or edited by Confucius himself, using an esoteric language of praise and blame to indicate approval or disapproval of the recorded historical events. The chronicle therefore was viewed as a canonical source of guidance for rulers and their ministers. In fact, though, the
Chunqiu fanlu is a collection of very disparate materials, composed by several people over a period spanning several generations. Some of its content does indeed rely on, or at least refer to, the
Spring and Autumn as a fountainhead of prescriptive wisdom, but in some chapters this connection is tangential or absent.
Fate has not been kind to this text. Many of its chapters are fragmentary and garbled, and over the centuries, scholars have questioned the authenticity of the text, or parts of it.
3 The factors conspiring against scholarly acceptance of the
Chunqiu fanlu have been numerous and compelling. The text’s late appearance on the literary scene, its inclusion of materials that clearly postdate Dong’s life, and the poor quality of the collection—with respect to both its literary style and the condition of the various editions that have survived—have led some readers to treat it dismissively and have challenged those scholars who have attempted to understand, interpret, and defend it. In turn, the questionable authenticity of the text has cast a long shadow over the figure of Dong Zhongshu himself.
A Brief Biography of Dong Zhongshu
What little we know about Dong Zhongshu comes from two accounts of his life preserved in the Han official histories: the chapter “The Biographies of Confucian Scholars” in the
Shiji and the “Biography of Dong Zhongshu” in the
Han shu. The latter biography draws on its
Shiji predecessor but expands on it by including a number of Dong’s official communications and other writings. Appendices A and B at the end of this volume contain full translations of these two biographies. By way of background, we briefly summarize here some of the most important events in Dong’s life.
4The early years of Dong Zhongshu’s life occasioned little comment from his chief biographers, Sima Qian and Ban Gu. Although Dong’s birth date is not recorded, he most likely was born sometime around 195
B.C.E., just after the reign of the first Han emperor, Gaozu, drew to a close. Both historians note only that Dong Zhongshu was a native of the kingdom called Guanquan (part of present-day Hebei Province)
5 and that at an early age he mastered the
Spring and Autumn. The circumstances under which he was able to do this and who served as his teacher are not described. In short, the details of Dong’s early life remain beyond the historian’s reach.
During the reign of Emperor Jing (r. 157–141
B.C.E.), an avid patron of the Daoist arts of Laozi and the Yellow Emperor
6 and less so of the classical arts associated with Confucius,
7 Dong Zhongshu traveled to the Han capital, Chang’an. There he took up his first official post as an Erudite (a court-appointed scholar) of the
Gongyang Commentary to the
Spring and Autumn and first transmitted his teachings.
8 He is said to have embraced his teaching responsibilities with a single-minded determination
9 that spawned a number of hagiographical vignettes over the centuries, beginning with that of Sima Qian, who claimed: “His concentration was such that verily for three years he did not glance at his garden.”
10 Dong’s teaching also was marked by a degree of formality that must have been atypical for his time, as it was noted in his biography that “[from behind] a lowered curtain, he lectured to and recited for his disciples, who in turn transmitted [his teachings] from those with greatest seniority to those with least seniority, so that some of his disciples never even saw his face.”
11 His reputation as an honest, forthright scholar and a man of propriety was said to have spread quickly, and before long, “scholars regarded him as a teacher to be respected.”
12At the court of Emperor Jing, Dong Zhongshu’s colleagues included a wide array of scholars and practitioners representing various positions on the rich and varied spectrum that constituted Han intellectual life. Dong served alongside devotees of the Daoist arts, such as Wang Guokai, Ji An, Zheng Dangshi, and Sima Tan’s teacher, Master Huang,
13 and others appointed as Erudites of the Confucian classics, such as Yuan Gu, an expert on the
Odes, and Master Huwu (also known as Huwu Zidu), a fellow scholar of the
Spring and Autumn. Master Huwu was said to have followed the regional interpretations from the kingdoms of Lu and Qi, while Dong followed those associated with Zhao.
14 Despite differences due to the regional flavor of their teachings, it appears that Dong Zhongshu came under the influence of Master Huwu before the latter returned home to Qi to teach: Ban Gu notes that Dong Zhongshu composed works praising Master Huwu’s virtues.
15Shortly after Emperor Jing’s successor, the teenage Emperor Wu, ascended the throne in 141
B.C.E., Dong Zhongshu finally had an opportunity to participate in an imperial inquiry and gain the emperor’s support.
16 The moment was laden with possibilities: Would Dong Zhongshu gain the emperor’s confidence and secure a promotion to high political office? Or would his ideas prove disagreeable to the young emperor and result in his being relegated to a less influential post? As the emperor struggled to gain a foothold in a court dominated by his regent, Empress Dowager Dou, it was anyone’s guess which political faction and attendant view of empire would eventually win dominance at court. For his part, Dong Zhongshu addressed the emperor’s inquiries with a series of frank and forthright responses. Although his remarks were couched in the self-abasing rhetoric that was conventional when addressing the throne, Dong’s responses bravely challenged the emperor to recognize his own shortcomings and criticized the state of affairs under his reign at every turn.
17How did the emperor respond? Around 134
B.C.E., Emperor Wu appointed Dong Zhongshu to the post of administrator
18 to the kingdom of Jiangdu (in present-day Jiangsu Province). Could that appointment have been an implicit signal that Dong’s responses were simply too forthright and critical for the young emperor to tolerate? Perhaps such an outspoken scholar could be effectively neutralized with an assignment far from the central court. Sending Dong to Jiangdu not only removed him from the central court but also made him an effective muzzle for Liu Fei, Emperor Wu’s elder brother, who reigned as King Yi of Jiangdu.
King Yi was well known for his martial inclinations, having established a reputation for military acumen during the Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms in 154
B.C.E., when he quelled the rebellion in Wu on behalf of the imperial court.
19 Sima Qian and Ban Gu also emphasize that the king was arrogant and extravagant.
20 A ruler with such character traits was hardly likely to put up with the uncompromising and frank Dong Zhongshu. The two men could not have had more different personalities and agendas. Yet Ban Gu reports that Dong was able to influence the king and, as a teacher does his disciple, ultimately “rectify and correct” him.
During the same period, Dong became known for his interpretations of disasters and anomalies recorded in the Spring and Autumn, particularly those that informed the ritual practices he implemented when seeking rain in times of drought and stopping rain in times of flood. Sima Qian remarks:
By consulting ominous changes such as natural disasters and strange events recorded in the
Spring and Autumn, he deduced the causes of disorderly interactions between yin and yang. Therefore when inducing rain, he repressed yang and released yin; when stopping rain, he inverted these techniques. When he implemented these techniques in this single state, he never failed to obtain the desired results.
21
Despite the suspicions that such a hyperbolic conclusion might prompt, it is clear from Sima Qian’s remarks that Dong’s stint as administrator in Jiangdu afforded him the opportunity to link his exegetical approaches, cosmological principles, and ritual practices into a potent mixture that was to have major implications for the later stages of his official career. Nonetheless, despite these successes, he was abruptly dismissed from his post as administrator in Jiangdu and sent back to Chang’an, where he was appointed to the lesser post of grand master to the palace.
22 This may have happened because Dong would not be silenced or domesticated. Despite being forced from the center of power to a peripheral kingdom, he continued to express his uncompromising views when addressing King Yi and refused to bow to the king’s hawkish pressures. This fact is well documented in the official written record of an exchange between Dong Zhongshu and the king that is preserved in both the
Han shu and the
Chunqiu fanlu.
23 Moreover, it is clear that this exchange was prompted by the king’s desire to gain imperial approval for a military expedition against the Xiongnu, a coalition of northern peoples who threatened the empire’s frontier. Dong argued strongly against military action. When King Yi failed to win the emperor’s approval, he may very well have held Dong Zhongshu personally responsible.
Back in Chang’an, as grand master to the palace, Dong Zhongshu once again offered instruction in the ways of the
Spring and Autumn. He is said to have received orders from the emperor himself to instruct one of his favorite courtiers, Wuqiu Shouwang.
24 Beyond this single reference, little is known about the students whom Dong instructed or the methods of instruction he employed in this second leg of his journey as a teacher.
At that time, Dong became involved in a political intrigue initiated by his opponents at court that nearly cost him his life. The intrigue began when after paying Dong a visit, the official Zhufu Yan absconded with a potentially volatile memorial that Dong had drafted, in which he analyzed the significance of a fire that had occurred in the mortuary temple of Emperor Gao. Zhufu Yan sent the memorial to the emperor, who summoned a number of scholars, including Dong’s disciple Lü Bushu, to examine and appraise the draft memorial. The memorial was roundly denounced, even by Dong’s disciple, who apparently did not know that the author was his very own teacher! Dong Zhongshu was then turned over to the legal officials, who tried him for “privately composing a book on disasters and anomalies” and charged him with “the crime of immorality.”
25To understand why Zhufu Yan may have felt threatened enough by the memorial to use it against Dong Zhongshu, it is necessary to consider its content and the political agenda it addressed. The memorial concerned two fires that occurred in 135
B.C.E, destroying both the imperial mortuary temple in Liaodong and the side halls in the funerary park to Emperor Gao in Chang’an. It was widely believed that fires that destroyed imperial palaces, ancestral halls, temples, or other buildings associated with the ruling clan were particularly inauspicious for the reigning dynasty. Dong argued that this double catastrophe at sites commemorating the founding emperor of the Han at both the periphery and the center of the empire was an unequivocal warning from Heaven that the emperor must deal decisively and harshly with the corresponding sources of trouble in these locales—that is, the unruly royal relatives in the distant kingdoms and the corrupt officials in the metropolitan area.
26Zhufu Yan likely found the memorial personally threatening on at least two accounts. Infamous for taking bribes and other kinds of payoffs, he no doubt feared that he was one of the very officials whom Dong had in mind when he argued that Heaven was sending the following message to the emperor: “Spy out your trusted couriers in the capital area who have engaged in dishonest practices and those who are honored but not upright and execute them without mercy, just as I have burned down the side halls in the funerary park to Emperor Gao.”
27 Moreover, Zhufu Yan and Dong Zhongshu were pitted against each other in one of the crucial debates of the period: how to resolve the pressing political challenges posed by the regional kings, relatives of the emperor who ruled the various kingdoms of the Han Empire. Dong advocated taking a hard line on the status of the potentially rebellious regional kings; Zhufu Yan was more conciliatory.
28No doubt these factors weighed on Zhufu Yan’s mind when the emperor ordered him, together with other officials, to judge this case. The verdict was as harsh as it could be: Dong Zhongshu was sentenced to death. His only hope was an imperial pardon, and that is precisely what happened, though the emperor’s motives for pardoning Dong were not recorded. Dong’s unambiguous show of loyalty to the central court on the question of the regional kings may have earned the emperor’s favor. Judging from the policies that the emperor subsequently adopted on this issue, his own views were not far from Dong’s, and therefore he may have had some sympathy for him. Or perhaps the emperor understood Zhufu Yan’s real motivations for embroiling Dong in a trumped-up court case. In any event, Dong escaped execution.
Having scarcely recovered from the episode with Zhufu Yan, Dong once again found his life threatened by yet another political opponent at court, this time Gongsun Hong, who had had a meteoric rise from pig herder to powerful minister. Gongsun Hong was instrumental in persuading Emperor Wu to appoint Dong to a position certain to put his life in danger: he was named administrator to the court of the imperial kinsman Liu Duan, who reigned as King Yu of Jiaoxi (in present-day Shandong Province). The king was notoriously unstable and infamous for the brutal treatment he meted out to officials sent by the central government to rein him in. Dong took up residence in Jiaoxi and quickly was able to foil Gongsun Hong’s plot. Before becoming embroiled in the king’s machinations and being accused of some imaginary crime, Dong managed to resign on grounds of illness and retreat from Jiaoxi unscathed.
29 No doubt this personal experience of serving in the kingdoms of Jiangdu and Jiaoxi contributed to shaping the policies he promoted with regard to the regional kings, policies that informed in significant ways his reading of the
Spring and Autumn and its
Gongyang Commentary.
After Dong returned to the capital, his fate improved. Judging from various events, his interpretations of the
Spring and Autumn appear to have finally won the emperor’s respect and support. Dong Zhongshu’s rise to prominence was marked by three key events. Some time around 122
B.C.E., the emperor directed him to debate the scholar Duke Jiang of Xiaqiu, who was known for his expertise on the
Guliang Commentary and the
Classic of Odes.
30 Presumably this was an opportunity for both sides to debate current policy issues, drawing on canonical authority to support their respective positions. “Well versed in the Five Classics, a capable and exceptional speaker, who excelled at linking various literary passages,” in contrast to his opponent, who stammered his way through the debate, Dong won by a clear and decisive margin.
31 The debate must have been a significant event at the court because it is recorded that Dong’s nemesis Gongsun Hong, who was then serving as counselor-in-chief, presided over the debate, compiled the debaters’ respective opinions, and followed Dong’s policy recommendations. Although the specific recommendations were not recorded, they clearly marked the rise to prominence of Dong’s particular interpretations of Gongyang Learning.
32 Not only did Dong’s performance convince the counselor-in-chief that his policy recommendations were worth pursing, but it impressed the emperor. Emperor Wu then directed Dong to instruct the heir apparent, the future Emperor Zhao, in his interpretations of the
Gongyang Commentary to the
Spring and Autumn.
33 Moreover, during this time the emperor himself appears to have solicited Dong’s opinions: “When there were important deliberations at court, the emperor often sent messengers to Dong’s home, including even the chamberlain for law enforcement, Zhang Tang, to question him.”
34 The memorials written by Dong at this time attest to his influence at court, as Emperor Wu often enacted his policy recommendations.
35This eminent scholar, teacher, and official left behind sons, grandsons, and hundreds of disciples who achieved high office.
36 Dong Zhongshu also was highly praised by the most prominent scholars of his age. Reflecting on his teachings, Sima Qian wrote: “From the rise of the Han down to the reign of the fifth generation of rulers, only Dong Zhongshu established a reputation for elucidating the
Spring and Autumn.”
37 Pondering his influence and integrity, Ban Gu composed the following effusive encomium:
| 抑抑仲舒 |
Elegant and refined Zhongshu, |
| 再相諸侯 |
twice minister to the Lords of the Land, |
| 身修國治 |
by cultivating his person he stabilized [their] kingdoms. |
| 致任懸車 |
Serving diligently until retiring his carriage, |
| 下帷章思 |
with lowered curtain pronouncing his thoughts, |
| 論道屬書 |
discoursing on the Way in his writings, |
| 講言訪對 |
with bold words and searching responses, |
| 為世純儒. |
he was the unsullied Confucian of his era.38 |
The famous bibliographer and editor Liu Xiang compared Dong with cultural paragons of antiquity: “Dong Zhongshu possessed the ability to assist a true king. Even Yi [Yin] and Lü [Wang] lacked the means to augment [his talents], while the likes of Guan [Zhong] and Yan [Ying] certainly did not compare with him.”
39 Even though he suffered political setbacks for his views, making powerful enemies time and again, Dong ultimately secured a reputation that far outweighed the fleeting achievements of his competitors and far outlasted the acclaim they enjoyed in their time.
The Gongyang Commentary and Gongyang Learning
The
Gongyang Commentary (
Gongyang zhuan) is one of three extant ancient commentaries on the
Spring and Autumn, the others being the
Guliang Commentary (
Guliang zhuan) and the
Zuo Commentary (
Zuo zhuan).
40 The
Gongyang Commentary, as we explain at greater length in the introduction to
group 1, “Exegetical Principles,” was traditionally regarded as having been written or edited by Confucius’s disciple Zixia and then transmitted within the Gongyang family until it was written down during the reign of the Han emperor Jing (r. 157–141
B.C.E.). Contrary to this traditional account, it seems likely that the
Gongyang Commentary already existed at least partly in written form by the end of the Warring States period, although it seems to have become prominent in the intellectual world of the Han only during and after Emperor Jing’s reign. The
Guliang Commentary is thought to have been written down somewhat later than the
Gongyang Commentary. The
Zuo Commentary was traditionally ascribed to Zuo Qiuming, who is said to have been a contemporary of Confucius, but most scholars now consider the
Zuo Commentary to be a composite work of the fourth to third centuries
B.C.E.
The content of the
Gongyang and
Guliang commentaries is similar. Both agree that Confucius composed the
Spring and Autumn.
41 Both are written in question-and-answer style, and both embrace the “praise-and-blame” theory, according to which Confucius used “subtle language” to express his approval or condemnation of events recorded in the
Spring and Autumn. Erudites—scholars given official posts on the basis of their learning—specializing in the
Gongyang Commentary were active during the middle decades of the Western Han period, under Emperors Jing and Wu. The
Guliang Commentary gained official recognition in the mid-first century
B.C.E. The
Zuo Commentary (which differs from the other two by emphasizing historical anecdotes and paying less attention to the language of praise and blame) rose to prominence as an object of study several decades later, at the very end of the Western Han period.
All three commentaries offer a wealth of historical detail to supplement the bare-bones chronicle of the Spring and Autumn. But where this detail comes from remains an open question. There are several possibilities, not mutually exclusive: (1) oral transmission through officials of the pre-Qin states and/or through masters and disciples of various lineages of learning; (2) transmission in writing in documents (such as hypothetical chronicles of pre-Qin states in addition to Lu) that are no longer extant; and (3) imaginative reconstruction, effectively historical fiction, by later writers, including the authors of the chronicles themselves. Most modern scholars agree that the commentaries cannot be relied on as sources of historical information in the absence of corroboration (as is sometimes found, for example, in bronze inscriptions).
Nevertheless, it is clear that Dong Zhongshu and his fellow
Gongyang Erudites, along with their students and followers—to whom we refer collectively as the Gongyang Learning—accepted the accounts in the commentary as being historically true and that those events, properly explained, revealed Confucius’s views on ethics, ritual, government, and other matters. They believed, and advocated, that a correct understanding of Confucius’s “subtle language” in the
Spring and Autumn could provide a template for good government in their own time. One modern scholar has observed that the
Spring and Autumn follows clear rules in the use of names and titles and in the inclusion or omission of individual names,
42 showing that the idea of praise and blame through the use of coded language, though perhaps a Han misreading of the
Spring and Autumn, is not, after all, completely far-fetched. (This does not, of course, in any way support the traditional claim that Confucius wrote or edited the
Spring and Autumn itself.)
The Question of Han Confucianism
The status of the commentaries to the
Spring and Autumn in the Former Han period is relevant to the discussion in contemporary Sinology about Han Confucianism—whether it existed and, if so, how it might be characterized. A number of scholars, notably Robert Eno, Michael Nylan, and Michael Loewe, have argued that there was no such thing as Han Confucianism (in the sense of a coherent body of doctrine), that the notion of a “Han Confucian synthesis” is at best an oversimplification, and that the idea that Dong Zhongshu presided over a “triumph of Confucianism” during the reign of Emperor Wu is simply illusory.
43 We agree with much of this critique. In particular, we agree that the old idea of Dong Zhongshu as the architect of a “Han Confucian synthesis” cannot be correct because it rests on a reading of the
Chunqiu fanlu as a comprehensive expression of Dong’s views, integrating the Five-Phase chapters, for example, into a framework founded on the
Spring and Autumn and the
Gongyang Commentary. As we show in
Luxuriant Gems of the “Spring and Autumn,” such a unitary view of the
Chunqiu fanlu is insupportable.
Eno, Nylan, Loewe, and others who have followed their lead thus make a point of avoiding the use of the word “Confucianism” in connection with the Han period, or of using “Confucian” as a translation of the Chinese word
ru 儒. That term, whose original meaning is obscure (its possible connotations of “softness,” “bending,” or “yielding” offer little clarification), came to be applied in the Warring States and Han periods to certain scholars or groups of scholars. The recent trend has been either not to translate the term
ru or to try to find another term, such as “classicist” or “literati,” that might be suitable. In our view, not translating
ru merely perpetuates an obscurity, and “classicist” casts too broad a net. Many scholarly lineages in the Warring States and Han periods had texts that they regarded as “classics” (such as the
Laozi) that were foreign to the
ru tradition. Likewise, “literati” includes many individuals who were not
ru. Accordingly, we translate
ru as “Confucian,” and we refer to Dong Zhongshu and his fellow practitioners as Confucians. We feel that some scholars’ current aversion to the term “Confucianism” with reference to the Han period is unnecessarily stringent and hampers, rather than promotes, understanding. We regard “Confucianism” as a capacious, somewhat baggy term, rather like “Christianity” or “Marxism.” In our view, to call Dong Zhongshu and some of his contemporaries Confucians is not in any way to suggest that their views were the same as the Neo-Confucianism of a thousand years later, or those of seventeenth-century Han Learning, but to acknowledge that they regarded Confucius as the preeminent sage of human history and the author of the
Spring and Autumn and accepted that text (seen through the lens of the
Gongyang Commentary) as the authoritative and canonical guide to creating a good society and a just and effective government in their own time. If that does not merit the designation “Confucian,” it is hard to see what might. In the same way, both Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin can be termed Christians with little risk of anyone’s assuming that their doctrines and teachings were identical. To insist on too much “rectification of names” is, we think, a mistake.
An Example from the Gongyang Commentary
The
Gongyang Commentary is keyed to the information contained in the
Spring and Autumn, expanding on the frequently brief and laconic entries under the rubrics of the dukes of Lu and the years of their reign, supplying large amounts of supplementary circumstantial information, and indicating in its characteristic question-and-answer format how the basic text praises or blames the persons concerned. In most cases, largely because of considerations of space, we do not quote at length from the
Gongyang Commentary, although we often summarize, paraphrase, or quote briefly from a
Gongyang passage. Where the
Chunqiu fanlu links directly to a passage in the
Spring and Autumn, we identify the source passage by duke, year, and paragraph. Interested readers then can find both the
Spring and Autumn passage and the
Gongyang explication.
44 The following is an example:
Chunqiu fanlu 7: Zhao Dun of Jin was a lone knight, without a foot or an inch of land or a single person in his entourage; yet Duke Ling, who possessed the honor and power bequeathed to him by his hegemonic ancestors, [feared him and] desired to kill him.
Though [Duke Ling] used every kind of artifice and utmost deceit,
With deceit overflowing and his strength fully employed,
[nevertheless] the calamity that [eventually] fell on his own person was great. Zhao Dun’s heart [was such that] had he been the ruler of [even] a small state, who would have been capable of destroying him? [CQFL 7/19/9–11]
Spring and Autumn, Duke Xuan 7.6.1: Spring. Zhao Dun of Jin and Sun Mian of Wey invaded Chen.
Gongyang Commentary: Zhao Dun assassinated his ruler. Why does he reappear here?
Zhao Quan was the one who with his own hands assassinated the ruler. Since this was so, why does the text lay the blame for this deed on Zhao Dun? [He] did not punish the assassin. Why does it say that he did not punish the assassin? The historian of Jin recorded the crime as follows: Zhao Dun of Jin assassinated his ruler Yi Gao. Zhao Dun said: “Oh Heaven! I am innocent! I did not assassinate the ruler. Who says that I am the one who assassinated the ruler?” The historian said: “You are the most benevolent and righteous [of men]. Someone assassinated your ruler, and you returned to the capital but did not punish the assassin. If this was not to assassinate the ruler, then what is?”
Under what circumstances did Zhao Dun return to the capital? Duke Ling behaved in a reckless manner. He ordered the great officers to attend the court and then he took up a position in a tower and shot pellets at them. They ran hurriedly to avoid the pellets. Only in such games did the duke take pleasure.
Zhao Dun had already come out from his audience [with the duke] and was standing in the court with the other great officers when somebody came out of the inner apartments carrying a bamboo basket. Zhao Dun asked: “What is that? Why should that basket appear from the inner apartments?” He called the man, but he did not come. [Someone] said: “You are a great officer. If you want to have a look at it, then go closer and do so!” When Zhao Dun went closer and had a look at it, he found to his horror that it was the body of a dead man. Zhao Dun asked: “Who is that?” The man replied: “It is the cook. The dish of bear paws that he was cooking was not ready. The duke got angry, hit him with the ladle, and killed him. [The duke] had [him] dismembered and wishes me to dispose of the body.” Zhao Dun said: “Oh!” and hurriedly entered the palace. Duke Ling, who from a distance saw Zhao Dun approaching, was frightened and saluted twice. Zhao Dun, while still facing the duke, withdrew a few steps, saluted twice and kowtowed, and then left hurriedly.
Duke Ling was ashamed in his heart. He wished to kill him and thus ordered a certain brave soldier to go and kill Zhao Dun. When this brave soldier entered [Zhao Dun’s] main gate, nobody was there to guard it. When he entered his inner apartment, nobody was there to guard it, and when he went up to the hall, no one was there either. He bent down, peeked under the door, [and saw that] Zhao Dun was just eating a [simple] meal of fish. The brave soldier said: “Ah, you, sir, are indeed a good man! When I entered your main gate, no one was there. When I entered your inner apartment, nobody was there. When I came up to your hall, no one was there. This shows how relaxed you are. You are an important minister in the state of Jin and yet you sup on fish. That shows your frugality. The ruler wants to kill you, but I cannot bear to do so. But at the same time, I also cannot face my ruler again.” And so he cut his throat and died. When Duke Ling heard about this, he became furious and wished all the more to kill Zhao Dun. None of the people could be made to go forward and kill him.
The Gongyang Learning’s exegetical tradition forms an essential part of the background for understanding the Chunqiu fanlu. But because the Chunqiu fanlu is a complicated text, woven from many strands, in our view it requires a new approach to understanding it.
A New Reading of the Chunqiu fanlu
With this translation, we hope to guide specialists and generalists alike through a new reading of the
Chunqiu fanlu, based on and developed from insights first presented in Sarah A. Queen’s
From Chronicle to Canon, published in 1996. Guided by the organization of the text itself, we divided the work into eight groups of chapters according to their common themes. In the introductions to those groups, we discuss in detail the discoveries and interpretations derived from our close work with the
Chunqiu fanlu. In this general introduction, we offer an overview of the text and discuss our approaches to it. The new reading of the
Chunqiu fanlu that we propose is based on the following four principles:
1. Reading the Chunqiu fanlu as the record of a living and thriving tradition of exegesis, based on the Gongyang Commentary to the Spring and Autumn, that addresses some of the most pressing concerns of the Han era, is a far more fruitful approach than one confined to assessing the authenticity or inauthenticity of the text based on the attribution of all, some, or none of its contents to Dong Zhongshu.
2. This frame of interpretation will enable historians to fill a long-standing lacuna in Confucian history by showing how the tradition of Gongyang Learning may have evolved in the critical years after the
Gongyang Commentary was committed to writing during the reign of Emperor Jing (r. 157–141
B.C.E.) but before the seminal work of He Xiu (129–182
C.E.) formulated what became the orthodox interpretation of that tradition.
453. With this new frame of reference, the multiple voices of the Chunqiu fanlu are not dismissed as problematic because not all of them derive from authentic works of Dong Zhongshu. They all are invaluable evidence for understanding how masters of Gongyang Learning transmitted their teachings and how their disciples during the Western and Eastern Han received and developed those teachings. We know the names of some Gongyang masters and those of some of their disciples; there were many others whose names have been forgotten. In this reading of the Chunqiu fanlu, all are potential participants in the discussions preserved in the text.
4. Finally, if we regard the
Chunqiu fanlu correctly as a composite work, compiled by an unknown editor from diverse sources long after Dong Zhongshu’s death, and value it as a record of the development and intellectual influence of Gongyang Learning, then issues of authenticity become unimportant. There is no rational basis for an equation that says “by the actual hand of Dong Zhongshu, good; not by the actual hand of Dong Zhongshu, bad (or, at least, less good).” The undoubted fact that the date and authorship of many chapters of the
Chunqiu fanlu cannot be established with certainty is no grounds for relegating parts of the text to the dustbin of history. It is valuable for understanding an exegetical tradition whose contributions were of great importance to Chinese political and intellectual life. That exegetical tradition sustained a constellation of Confucian values and ideals that generations of scholar-officials drew on again and again through the centuries to fulfill their roles as guardians and custodians of the Way. We do indeed propose a stratification of the text, but we downplay the long-standing issue of “authenticity” in favor of regarding the
Chunqiu fanlu as representing a tradition that developed and changed over time.
The Content and Organization of the Chunqiu fanlu
The Content of the Text
Our reading of the Chunqiu fanlu rests on a particular understanding of its content and organization. We believe that it is the work of an anonymous compiler living between the fourth and the sixth century C.E. who brought together a number of writings associated with Dong Zhongshu and other masters and disciples of Gongyang Learning. The editor’s interest in preserving for posterity the teachings associated with this preeminent Han master and others who transmitted their interpretations of the Spring and Autumn through the lens of the Gongyang Commentary is readily apparent from the content and organization of the text. As the reader will discover, the majority of essays preserved in the Chunqiu fanlu take up and develop various themes derived from the Gongyang Commentary, but in different ways and with different foci. In other words, groups of chapters in the Chunqiu fanlu address different principles gleaned from the Gongyang Commentary. Because these thematically linked principles generally cluster in chapters in close proximity, we grouped these chapters accordingly and provided titles for these thematic groups that speak to their central concerns. In doing so, we hope to make transparent to the reader both the method of compilation that no doubt guided the hands of our anonymous compiler and his motives for undertaking the task. As the reader will see, each group of chapters elucidates a particular aspect of the “great principles” to be derived from the Spring and Autumn by revealing the coded messages—as the Gongyang exegetes believed they were—embedded in its text. Taken together, the chapters reveal a utopian vision of flourishing humanity rooted in the unified rule of King Wen of Zhou, a vision designed to serve as a blueprint for implementing the plan for perfected government that the Gongyang Learning masters saw as the precious legacy of the great sage Confucius.
The Organization of the Text
Traditionally, the content of the Chunqiu fanlu was arranged according to two overlapping systems. In the first, the content is divided into seventeen “books” (juan 卷 [scrolls]), each with a variable number of “parts” (pian 編), totaling eighty-two pian. In the second system of arrangement, the eighty-two pian are numbered consecutively as chapters. In our translation, although we preface each chapter with its appropriate book and part number as well as its consecutive chapter number, our references and cross-references to text material are always to the consecutively numbered chapters. The following list shows the relationship among books, parts, and chapters:
Our own division of the text’s material into eight groups of chapters obviously differs considerably from the traditional arrangement of the text as “books” and “parts.” In our view, the diverse materials preserved in the
Chunqiu fanlu should be organized according to the principles that apparently guided its anonymous compiler. He grouped together materials that address common themes associated with the
Spring and Autumn in the text of the
Chunqiu fanlu, as well as materials intended to fill out specific areas of inquiry not addressed in the
Spring and Autumn. The groups of chapters move in a somewhat orderly and progressive manner from the beginning to the end of the text. For example, the
Chunqiu fanlu begins with copious and detailed discussions of the “subtle language” of the
Spring and Autumn, thereby laying the groundwork for appreciating the claims of later chapters. Reading the text from beginning to end, one can construct a comprehensive overview of Gongyang Learning. Following the contours of these different theoretical and practical realms of concern, the
Chunqiu fanlu divides into eight groups, to which we have given the following titles:
We preface each of these eight groups with a critical introduction, giving readers an overview of each group by identifying its main theme or themes and providing brief descriptions of its constituent chapters. Each group introduction also addresses issues of dating and attribution as well as the general historical context and the issues defining that context.
The Condition of the Text
Having claimed that the
Chunqiu fanlu exhibits a coherent organization in which the principles of compilation guiding its anonymous compiler become apparent through the proper grouping, dating, and attribution of its chapters, we also recognize the importance of acknowledging the generally poor condition of the text as a whole. Thus despite its structural bones, which give the
Chunqiu fanlu a strong and coherent form, some of the chapters and sections within chapters contain features that betray the fragmentary and poorly preserved materials of which they are composed. For example, some chapters contain multiple essay fragments from separate sources that have been stitched together to give a semblance of a coherent whole. Still others include essays that diligent scholars have restored from fragments that had migrated to different parts of the text. Accordingly, one of the several principles of sectioning we used in our translation is to alert readers to this fragmentary quality of the text. We explain these principles in greater detail later, in the section “Methods of Translation.”
The Title of the Work
Our claims about the compilation and general character of the text find further support in the title by which the collection has come to be known: the
Chunqiu fanlu. This title is typically rendered into English as either
Luxuriant Dewdrops of the “Spring and Autumn” or
Luxuriant Gems of the “Spring and Autumn.” The two are quite close, diverging only in their understanding of the title’s fourth character. The first version captures the literal meaning of the word
lu, with its connotations of the “sweet dew” (
gan lu) that was believed to descend on and moisten and fructify such lands as were ruled by a monarch sagely enough to attract it. The second takes the word metaphorically to refer to strings of gems that hang from the ruler’s ritual headgear, shielding his visage from the gaze of lesser men while also reminding the monarch that his view of the world is necessarily partly obscured.
46 Whether literal or metaphorical, the dewdrops or gems of the
Spring and Autumn are the various principles—from the exegetical and political (Monarchical and Regulatory) to the ethical and cosmological (Ethical, Yin-Yang, Five-Phase, and Heavenly)—addressed in the different groups of chapters of the text. Thus although the title
Chunqiu fanlu does not appear in the Han sources, it is invaluable for understanding the intent of its anonymous compiler as well as the work’s actual content. As we will see, it adds up to a genealogy of Gongyang Learning in the Han.
Individual Chapter Titles
In reconstituting the traces of Han Gongyang Learning, our anonymous compiler no doubt searched far and wide for the materials that constitute the
Chunqiu fanlu. As our discussions in the successive group introductions demonstrate, both the content and the form of the materials preserved in the text suggest that this is so. Moreover, the notion that the anonymous compiler drew from multiple source-texts is further supported by the
Chunqiu fanlu’s chapter titles, which differ in length, and the principles of naming chapters appear to change as one moves through the text. Significantly, the different types of chapter titles correspond to the eight different groups of material we have identified, further supporting our notion that the compiler worked purposefully and methodically, organizing his materials according to certain principles of compilation and borrowing from more than one source-text. Recognizing and analyzing which chapter titles exhibit what general trends and which depart from them is another way to try to resolve the mystery of how this text came together, from what kinds of sources, and what the original order of its chapters may have been.
The chapter titles of
group 1, “Exegetical Principles,” are mostly, but not invariably, two characters long, but there is an important distinction between the first five titles and the last twelve: the first five chapter titles (assuming “Fanlu” to be the original title of
chapter 1, as proposed by Su Yu) are purely decorative, whereas the last twelve titles concretely describe the central themes of their respective chapters (or, in the case of
chapter 17, identifies it as a postface to the entire group). As we explain in the introductions to these chapters, this difference is one of several factors suggesting that two different source-texts were combined to constitute this first group.
GROUP 1: EXEGETICAL PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 1–17
1. 繁露 Fanlu Luxuriant Gems (楚莊王 Chu Zhuang Wang, King Zhuang of Chu)
2. 玉杯 Yu bei Jade Cup
3. 竹林 Zhu lin Bamboo Grove
4. 玉英 Yu ying Jade Brilliance
5. 精華 Jing hua The Quintessential and the Ornamental
6. 王道 Wang dao The Kingly Way
7. 滅國 (上) Mie guo (shang) Annihilated States, Part A
8. 滅國 (下) Mie guo (xia) Annihilated States, Part B
9. 遂本消息 Sui ben xiao xi Waxing and Waning in Accord with the Root
10. 盟會要 Meng hui yao The Essentials of Covenants and Meetings
11. 正貫 Zheng guan The Rectifying Thread
12. 十指 Shi zhi Ten Directives
13. 重政 Zhong zheng Emphasize Governance
14. 服制像 Fu zhi xiang Images for the Regulation of Dress
15.
二端 Er duan Two Starting Points
16. 符瑞 Fu rui Signs and Omens
17. 俞序 Yu xu Yu’s Postface
In contrast to the first group of chapter titles, most made up of two characters, the chapter titles of
group 2, “Monarchical Principles,” are uniformly three characters in length, and in ancient Chinese, they all rhymed, a feature unique to this group of chapters. But like those of the first group, these titles also describe the central themes of their respective chapters. One plausible explanation for the fact that these titles rhyme is that they formed a coherent group early on, perhaps in the Han, and the compiler incorporated them into the
Chunqiu fanlu as a ready-made group.
GROUP 2: MONARCHICAL PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 18–22
18. 離合跟 Li he gen Departing from and Conforming to the Fundamental
19. 立元神 Li yuan shen Establishing the Originating Spirit
20. 保位權 Bao wei quan Preserving Position and Authority
21. 考功名 Kao gong ming Investigating Achievement and Reputation
22. 通國身 Tong guo shen Comprehending the State as the Body
In contrast to the first two groups, which exhibit a relatively uniform pattern of two- and three-character titles, the chapters of
group 3, “Regulatory Principles,” have titles ranging from two to four, six, and ten characters long.
Chapters 23 and
25 have long titles, atypical of Han texts. The remaining chapter titles are two or four characters long, resembling the two-character titles of
group 1 and the four-character titles characteristic of the cosmological chapters in
groups 5 and
6. This variability suggests that the chapters in this group were probably brought together from disparate sources.
GROUP 3: REGULATORY PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 23–28
23. 三代改制質文 San dai gai zhi zhi wen The Three Dynasties’ Alternating Regulations of Simplicity and Refinement
24. 官制象天 Guan zhi xiang tian Regulations on Officialdom Reflect Heaven
25.
堯舜不擅移湯武不專殺 Yao Shun bu shan yi; Tang Wu bu zhuan sha Yao and Shun Did Not Presumptuously Transfer [the Throne]; Tang and Wu Did Not Rebelliously Murder [Their Rulers]
26. 服制 Fu zhi Regulations on Dress
27. 制度 Zhi du Regulating Limits
28. 爵國 Jue guo Ranking States
Group 4, “Ethical Principles,” contains the most heterogeneous titles, varying in length from two to three, four, seven, and eleven characters. But once again, we see that titles of two and four characters in length are the most typical and that variations from this trend reflect variations in source-text. For example, the two titles that are identified as “official responses”—those of
chapters 32 and
38—do not conform to the title lengths more typical of this collection.
GROUP 4: ETHICAL PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 29–42
29. 仁義法 Ren yi fa Standards of Humaneness and Righteousness
30. 必仁且智 Bi ren qie zhi The Necessity of [Being] Humane and Wise
31. 身之養莫重於義 Shen zhi yang mo zhong yu yi For Nurturing the Self Nothing Is More Important Than Righteous Principles
32.
對膠西 [i.e.,
江都]
王越大夫不得為仁 Dui Jiaoxi [
Jiangdu]
Wang: Yue dafu bu de wei ren An Official Response to the King of Jiangdu: The Great Officers of Yue Cannot Be Considered Humane
4733. 觀德 Guan de Observing Virtue
34. 奉本 Feng ben Serving the Root
35. 深察名號 Shen cha ming hao Deeply Examine Names and Designations
36. 實性 Shi xing Substantiating Human Nature
37. 諸侯 Zhuhou The Lords of the Land
38. 五行對 Wuxing dui An Official Response Regarding the Five Phases
39. [Title and text are no longer extant]
40. [Title and text are no longer extant]
41. 為人者天 Wei ren zhe tian Heaven, the Maker of Humankind
42. 五行之義 Wuxing zhi yi The Meaning of the Five Phases
The chapter titles of
group 5, “Yin-Yang Principles,” are mainly four characters long, and all are thematically based. Ten of the fourteen extant titles in this group are four characters long, two are two characters long, one is three characters long, and one is six characters long.
GROUP 5: YIN-YANG PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 43–57
43. 陽尊隱卑 Yang zun yin bei Yang Is Lofty, Yin Is Lowly
44. 王道通三 Wang dao tong san The Kingly Way Penetrates Three
45. 天容 Tian rong Heaven’s Prosperity
46. 天辨在人 Tian bian zai ren The Heavenly Distinctions Lie in Humans
47. 陰陽位 Yin yang wei The Positions of Yin and Yang
48. 陰陽終始 Yin yang zhong shi Yin and Yang End and Begin [the Year]
49. 隂陽義 Yin yang yi The Meaning of Yin and Yang
50. 陰陽出入上下 Yin yang chu ru shang xia Yin and Yang Emerge, Withdraw, Ascend, and Descend
51. 天道無二 Tian dao wu er Heaven’s Way Is Not Dualistic
52. 暖燠孰多 Nuan ao shu duo Heat or Cold, Which Predominates?
53. 基義 Ji yi Laying the Foundation of Righteousness
54. [Title and text are no longer extant]
55. 四時之副 Si shi zhi fu The Correlates of the Four Seasons
56. 人副天數 Ren fu tian shu Human Correlates of Heaven’s Regularities
57. 同類相動 Tong lei xiang dong Things of the Same Kind Activate One Another
The chapter titles of
group 6, “Five-Phase Principles,” are uniformly four characters long, with the term “Five Phases” appearing in every title of this group. The uniformity of these titles extends to the principle of naming specific chapters; that is, all the titles are based on themes.
GROUP 6: FIVE-PHASE PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 58–64
58. 五行相生 Wuxing xiang sheng The Mutual Engendering of the Five Phases
59. 五行相勝 Wuxing xiang sheng The Mutual Conquest of the Five Phases
60. 五行順逆 Wuxing shun ni Complying with and Deviating from the Five Phases
61. 制水五行 Zhi shui wuxing Controlling Water by Means of the Five Phases
62. 制亂五行 Zhi luan wuxing Controlling Disorders by Means of the Five Phases
63.
五行變救 Wuxing bian jiu Aberrations of the Five Phases and Their Remedies
64. 五行五事 Wuxing wu shi The Five Phases and Five Affairs
The chapter titles of
group 7, “Ritual Principles,” are usually two characters long, with two exceptions. As in
group 4, departures from the trend that typifies this group point to variations in the source-texts and setting. In addition, in the two exceptional titles—those of
chapters 71 and
73—the third character functions as a marker of genre, in one case as an “official response” and in the other as a “hymn.” All the titles describe the content of their respective chapters.
GROUP 7: RITUAL PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 65–76
65. 郊語 Jiao yu Sayings Pertaining to the Suburban Sacrifice
66. 郊義 Jiao yi The Principles of the Suburban Sacrifice
67. 郊祭 Jiao ji Sacrificial Rites of the Suburban Sacrifice
68. 四祭 Si ji The Four [Seasonal] Sacrificial Rites
69. 郊祀 Jiao si The Suburban Sacrifice
70. 順命 Shun ming Following Orders
71. 郊事對 Jiao shi dui An Official Response Regarding the Suburban Sacrifice
72. 執贄 Zhi zhi Presenting Gifts to Superiors
73. 山川頌 Shan chuan song Hymn to the Mountains and Rivers
74. 求雨 Qiu yu Seeking Rain
75. 止雨 Zhi yu Stopping Rain
76. 祭義 Ji yi The Principles of Sacrificial Rites
The chapter titles of
group 8, “Heavenly Principles,” are generally four characters long, with “Heaven” appearing prominently in all but one chapter title. The titles of three of the six chapters in this group are derived from the first characters of their opening lines:
chapter 77, “Conform to Heaven’s Way”;
chapter 78, “The Conduct of Heaven and Earth”; and
chapter 82, “The Way of Heaven Bestows.” This method of naming chapters is unique to this group.
48GROUP 8: HEAVENLY PRINCIPLES, CHAPTERS 77–82
77.
循天之道 Xun tian zhi dao Conform to Heaven’s Way
78. 天地之行 Tian di zhi xing The Conduct of Heaven and Earth
79. 威德所生 Wei de suo sheng The Origins of Severity and Beneficence
80. 如天之為 Ru tian zhi wei In Imitation of Heaven’s Activities
81. 天地陰陽 Tian di yin yang Heaven, Earth, Yin, and Yang
82. 天道施 Tian dao shi The Way of Heaven Bestows
As seen from the lists, the chapter titles of six of the eight groups of chapters in the
Chunqiu fanlu usually are of similar lengths: most of
group 1’s chapter titles are two characters long; those of
group 2 are three characters long; most of
group 5’s chapter titles are four characters long; all of
group 6’s chapter titles are four characters long; all but two of
group 7’s chapter titles are two characters long; and all but one of
group 8’s chapter titles are four characters long. The chapter titles of
groups 3 and
4 are more varied in length, but aside from the few long titles, most of the chapter titles are two and four characters long. As suggested earlier, we believe that the chapter titles that are longer or shorter than is typical of each group may alert the prudent reader that they reflect different sources. It is no accident, for example, that the titles assigned to “official responses” found in different groups in the text depart from the title lengths typical of their group. We suspect that these chapter titles were added when the collection was compiled, because either the materials used by the editor had no titles (as would have been true, for example, of official documents) or the original titles had been lost.
The practice of naming a chapter based on its opening line, rather than its central theme, is the exception rather than the rule, occurring as it does in only four chapters:
chapter 1, “King Zhuang of Chu”;
chapter 77, “Conform to Heaven’s Way”;
chapter 78, “The Conduct of Heaven and Earth”; and
chapter 82, “The Way of Heaven Bestows.” We believe that the original titles of these chapters were lost and subsequently were replaced using this method.
A Proposed Stratification of the Chunqiu fanlu
Our close reading of the entire Chunqiu fanlu and our analysis of its eight groups of chapters, the chapters themselves, and the chapter sections brought us to the following conclusions.
The
Chunqiu fanlu comprises highly disparate materials, of diverse authorship, written over a period of time extending from the mid–Western Han period (ca. 150–120
B.C.E.) through the Eastern Han period (25–220
C.E.) and perhaps somewhat beyond.
Some materials included in the
Chunqiu fanlu probably were assembled as groups of texts sometime after the death of Dong Zhongshu in 104
B.C.E. and before the compilation of the
Chunqiu fanlu as we know it. An example is
group 1 (
chapters 1–
17), which consists of two well-defined subgroups (
chapters 1–
5 and
6–
16) plus a
xu postface by the otherwise unknown “Mr. Yu” that ties the group of chapters together.
The Chunqiu fanlu as a received text was assembled and edited by an unknown compiler not later than the early sixth century C.E. (the time of the earliest reference to the work with that title) and most likely during the fifth century C.E. The unknown compiler apparently tried to assemble and preserve all the materials that he could find that were in any way attributable to Dong Zhongshu, whether they were preexisting groups of chapters or individual chapters or chapter sections. He took a liberal view of his task, as the compilation includes some materials that diverge rather widely from Dong’s views as described in the Shiji and the Han shu. Of course, we have no way of knowing what, if any, materials the unknown compiler may have examined and rejected as unworthy of inclusion in his work. The compiler did, however, consciously group materials together by theme.
The larger purpose behind the compilation of the Chunqiu fanlu appears to have been to preserve materials relating to the Gongyang Learning tradition of Confucianism, at a time when Confucian scholarship had been somewhat eclipsed in Chinese intellectual circles by Buddhism and religious Daoism.
The authorship of individual chapters and chapter sections can be ascribed, with more or less confidence, as follows:
• Works by Dong Zhongshu (ca. 150–120 B.C.E.)
• Works by Dong Zhongshu or members of his immediate circle, including first-generation disciples (ca. 130–100 B.C.E.)
• Works by later followers of Dong Zhongshu (first century B.C.E.)
• Works by Western Han writers not directly associated with Dong Zhongshu (second and first centuries B.C.E.)
• Works by Eastern Han writers (25–220 C.E.)
• Works by post–Eastern Han writers (ca. third and fourth centuries C.E.)
These attributions naturally involve some degree of uncertainty. We have assigned works unambiguously to Dong Zhongshu only when we felt quite sure that they were written by Dong himself. Distinguishing between works attributed to “Dong Zhongshu or members of his immediate circle” and “later followers of Dong Zhongshu,” however, necessarily involved a certain amount of doubt, and assigning the many sections of two long and complicated chapters, 23 and 26, was fraught with difficulties. Some readers will undoubtedly come to different conclusions about different chapters and chapter sections.
49 The ones we list here represent our best judgment on the basis of a complete translation and intensive study of the text.
Some traditional scholars view the Chunqiu fanlu as being largely, if not entirely, the work of Dong Zhongshu. Other, more skeptical scholars dismiss the whole text as having little to do with Dong. Our view gives limited support to both positions. We believe that the text does indeed contain a substantial amount of material by Dong, his immediate disciples, and later followers of his tradition but that it also includes many chapters and chapter sections that clearly have little or nothing to do with Dong and his tradition. In the end, the Chunqiu fanlu provides a kind of moving picture of the development, evolution, and (perhaps one might say) dilution of the Gongyang Learning tradition from the years when Dong flourished in the middle decades of the Western Han period into the Period of Disunion when the text was compiled in its received form by an unknown scholar loyal to the memory of Dong Zhongshu.
About This Book
Methods of Translation
In our translation of the Chunqiu fanlu, we have followed the same principles established in our earlier translation of the Huainanzi, tailored to address the specific characteristics and challenges posed by the Chunqiu fanlu:
1. The translation must be as complete and as accurate as it is possible to make it, with all Chinese words accounted for and nothing added or paraphrased.
2. The translation must use standard, highly readable English, with no jargon or esoteric vocabulary and no resort to contrived syntax.
3. The translation must preserve the vital features of the Chinese original, such as parallel prose, verse, and aphoristic sayings.
4. Special attention must be paid to the formal characteristics of the chapter titles and chapter contents for guidance in assessing the source materials employed to compile the text and the particular circumstances that brought the collection’s source materials into existence.
5. The text must be approached on its own terms, following the organization, content, and contours of individual chapters and the text as a whole.
Conventions
Chapters and Chapter Sections
The earliest references to the Chunqiu fanlu indicate that the work was divided into eighty-two chapters, the same arrangement followed in the extant work, with placeholders for the three chapters whose titles and contents have been lost to posterity. The original manuscript copy would have had either no punctuation or only minimal punctuation, with little or no indication of sentence and paragraph breaks, no differentiation of prose and verse, and no sections or other subdivisions within chapters. We have provided all these in our English translation. In general, we have followed the suggested punctuation and, less often, the paragraph breaks suggested by D. C. Lau, editor of the standard edition on which we have based our translation. We note our departures from Lau’s punctuation and paragraph division only when they have a significant effect on how we construe the meaning.
We also have divided each chapter into sections, which, although not present in the original text, provide an important tool to enhance readers’ understanding of the text and to facilitate cross-references. In referring to these sections, we follow a simple convention: in discussing a section within an individual chapter, we refer to “
section x.y.” So, for example, in a discussion of
chapter 28, we might refer to “section 28.2.” This draws the reader's attention to section 2 of the chapter under discussion. But when mentioning a section of a chapter other than the one under discussion, or in the context of a general discussion, we refer to
chapter x.y; for example, in a discussion of
chapter 22, we might refer to “chapter 19.2.” This alerts the reader to turn to
chapter 19, section 2, to find the comparison being made with
chapter 22.
As we have defined them, the chapter sections are by no means arbitrary; instead, we have tried to follow breaks in the material itself. The section breaks are intended to show readers where essays, thematic or rhetorical subdivisions within essays, and essay fragments begin and end. This is critical in the Chunqiu fanlu because so many of its chapters contain more than one essay or essay fragment. In some instances, several essay fragments from originally separate essays addressing a common theme have been combined in a single chapter. Noting these features of the text will give readers a greater appreciation of the patchwork quality of many chapters by pointing to the various materials that have been stitched together to constitute—or perhaps reconstitute—many chapters in this collection, as well as illustrating the ways in which the poor condition of the collection shapes the reader’s reception of the text.
Format and Typography
As is the case with many Han works, formal features such as parallel prose are important components of the Chunqiu fanlu’s rhetorical structure. Accordingly, we have been careful to translate parallel prose lines into parallel lines of English, indented and set line-for-line.
Words that do not appear in the Chinese text but are implied by the wording of the original or, in our judgment, are required to complete the sense of a phrase or sentence (taking care not to add anything that is not clearly implied by the text itself) are enclosed in square brackets.
Arrangement of Chapters and Appendices
As we noted earlier, the seventy-nine surviving chapters that constitute this work are divided into eight groups, and we have provided introductions to each group of chapters.
Notes have been kept to a necessary minimum and generally cover such matters as
textual emendations, as when we disagree with the proposed changes of D. C. Lau, agree with the emendations of Su Yu or other commentators, or propose emendations of our own;
explanations of terms, such as obscure words or characters used in unusual ways;
source lines from the
Spring and Autumn and
Gongyang Commentary;
people and places mentioned in the text whose importance requires a brief identification;
cross-references in the text and references to comparable passages in early texts; and
explanations of obscure passages, like historical anecdotes that cannot readily be understood without information supplementing the original text.
We also offer full translations (appendices A and B) of Dong Zhongshu’s biographies from the Shiji and the Han shu, the two most important sources for his life. Throughout the book, references to the Shiji are cited as SJ, and references to the Han shu are cited as HS.
Translation Issues
Key Terms
| DAO 道 |
The word dao is always translated as “the Way.” |
| DE 德 |
In our translation of the Huainanzi,50 we generally translated de as “potency” or “moral potency,” in keeping with the eclectic and syncretic nature of that text. Here, reflecting the Confucian orientation of the Chunqiu fanlu, we translate de as “virtue.” |
| E 惡 |
We translate e as “evil,” “bad,” “hateful,” and “wrongdoing,” according to context. E is often a paired antonym with shan 善, and shan/e yields meanings such as “good/evil,” “good/bad,” “admirable/hateful,” “to like/to dislike,” and “to accept/to reject.” E also is sometimes paired with mei 美, with meanings like “beautiful//ugly,” “excellent/execrable,” and “to approve/to disapprove.” |
| GONG 公, HOU 侯, BO 伯, zi 子, AND NAN 男 |
Following the long-standing convention, we translate these terms as “duke,” “marquis,” “earl,” “viscount,” and “baron,” respectively, but with the understanding that they do not imply any influence or connotations of European feudal hierarchy. |
| JUNZI 君子 |
In the Chunqiu fanlu, junzi often refers specifically to Confucius as the putative author of the Spring and Autumn, and in those cases we translate the term as “the Noble Man” (capitalized). In other cases, junzi refers to other individuals distinguished by the nobility of their conduct, and in those instances, we translate the term as “a noble man” (lowercased). |
| LI 理 |
The word li has the basic meaning of “pattern”; the image is of the pattern of veins in a piece of jade. Li is often translated as “principle,” but here, in order to avoid confusion with yi (righteous principle), we generally translate li as “inherent pattern.” |
| QUAN 權 |
The word quan has the basic meaning of “weight” (used in conjunction with a scale to weigh things). But in the Chunqiu fanlu, it often has the extended metaphorical meaning of “expediency,” which we translate accordingly.51 |
| REN 人 |
Translated as “person” or “man,” ren is used in a special way in the Spring and Autumn when the text avoids naming a person to emphasize that person’s low (nonaristocratic) status or implicitly to express criticism of that person.52 In such cases, we translate ren as “a man,” as in “a man from Jin.” |
| RU 儒 |
For reasons already explained, and contrary to the current fashion, we translate ru as “Confucian,” on the minimalist ground that all scholars who self-identified as ru regarded Confucius as a uniquely great teacher and sage and accepted as canonical a small number of texts—such as the Spring and Autumn, the Odes, and the Documents—that were closely associated with him. |
| SHU 數 |
The word shu means “number.” In the Chunqiu fanlu, it often has the extended meaning of “regularity,” as in the cycle of the seasons or the motions of celestial bodies. In some cases, shu has the broader, metaphorical meaning of “norm,” and we employ that translation where appropriate. |
| WU WEI 無為 |
We consistently translate the term wu wei as “non-action,” albeit recognizing that the Han-dynasty discourse makes clear that “non-action” is not the same as “doing nothing.” Our “non-action” should be construed as “taking no purposive action,” “non-striving,” or “taking no action contrary to the Way,” to cite a few other attempts to convey the essence of this important term. |
| YI 義 |
This is a complicated term with many meanings, on a spectrum from “justice” to “significance.” In the Spring and Autumn, yi almost invariably connotes both “righteousness” and “meaning.” In our translation of the Huainanzi, we translated yi as “rightness,” in keeping with the eclectic and syncretic nature of that text. Here, reflecting the Confucian orientation of the Chunqiu fanlu, we generally translate yi as “righteousness” or “righteous principle” and, where appropriate, as “meaning” or “justice.” |
| YUE 曰 |
The word yue means “to say” or “said.” In the Chunqiu fanlu, it often appears in the formula wenzhe yue 問者曰, “someone raising a question said,” or nanzhe yue 難者曰, “someone raising an objection said.” In many cases, the word yue stands alone, with no identified speaker. In some of those cases, we translate yue as “someone said”; but in pedagogical debate (a rhetorical form that appears frequently in chapters 1 through 5, for example), where the text that follows yue is clearly an authoritative response to a question or objection, we translate yue as “the answer is.” |
| ZHU HOU 諸侯 |
This is a collective term for rulers of states in ancient China. Some authors translate zhu hou as “feudal lords,” but we consistently translate the term as “Lords of the Land” in order to emphasize the uniqueness of the term and the sharpness of its focus. |
Terms Not Translated
We have made every effort to avoid cluttering our pages with untranslated Chinese terms, but we nonetheless had to leave untranslated a number of words that simply have no good English equivalent:
• Some words pertaining to measurement, such as li, a linear distance equal to about one-third of a mile (about 500 meters), and mu (or mou), a measure of area equal to about one-sixth of an acre (about 0.067 hectare)
• Other words of linear measure, such as ren, zhang, and pi
• Words for units of weight, such as jun and dan
• The names of the five notes of the pentatonic scale: gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu
• The names of some musical instruments, such as the se and the qin, often, but in our view inappropriately, translated as “lute” or “zither”
• The names of the ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches and their sexagenary combinations
• Some technical terms, notably qi, which we sometimes render as “vital energy” but more often leave untranslated
Nonstandard Romanizations
In order to avoid confusion of terms that are spelled identically in romanized form, we use nonstandard romanizations to distinguish the following pairs of terms:
• The Zhou 周 dynasty and Djou 纣, the last king of Shang
• The Duke of Zhou 周公 and the duke of Jou 州公
• The state (and empire) of Han 漢 and the state of Hann 韓
• The state of Lu 魯 and the county of Luu 潞
• The state of Qi 齊 and the state of Qii 杞
• The state of Wei 魏 and the state of Wey 衞
Citations
Chinese Text
We take as our standard edition the work of D. C. Lau, Chunqiu fanlu zhuzi suoyin 春秋繁露逐字索引 (A Concordance to the “Chunqiu fanlu”), Chinese University of Hong Kong, Institute of Chinese Studies Ancient Chinese Text Concordance Series (Hong Kong: Commercial Press [Shangwu yinshuguan], 1992), cited as CQFL. When we accept Lau’s emendations, we do so without comment, but when we depart from his text, we explain why in the notes. Our standard form of reference to this and other concordances in the ICS Ancient Chinese Text Concordance Series is to chapter/page/line in the form [10/83/19].
Our standard reference texts of the Chunqiu fanlu for collected commentaries are by Su Yu 蘇輿, Chunqiu fanlu yizheng春秋繁露義證 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju chuban, 1992), cited as Su Yu, CQFLYZ; Lai Yanyuan 賴炎元, Chunqiu fanlu jinzhu jinyi 春秋繁露今注今譯 (Taibei: Commercial Press, 1984), cited as Lai, CQFLJZJY; and Zhong Zhaopeng 鐘肇鵬, Chunqiu fanlu jiaoshi 春秋繁露校釋 (Jinan: Shandong youyi chubanshe, 1994), cited as Zhong, CQFLJS.
References to Other Classical Works
Classical works are usually referred to by standard divisions of chapter and verse, without reference to any particular edition—for example,
Odes 96, stanza 2;
Analects 1.3. Where an exact page and line reference is called for, unless otherwise indicated and whenever they are available, we cite editions of pre-Han and Han works in the ICS Ancient Chinese Text Concordance Series (all edited by D. C. Lau and published in Hong Kong by the Commercial Press). Citations take the form of the title plus chapter/page/ line—for example,
Liezi 2/6/20.
We recognize that this translation and study of the Chunqiu fanlu will raise more questions and problems than we have been able to answer. Nonetheless, we hope that our work will serve as a springboard for a revival of scholarly attention to this fascinating and difficult collection of “Luxuriant Gems.”
