A Comparative Study "zhushujinian" And "spring And Autumn Annals

Bamboo Annals and Spring and Autumn Annals are both the historical classics ofthe Spring-Autumn Period and Warring States Period. Bamboo Annals were writtenby the historiographers in Wei Dynasty of the Warring States Period. Little importancewas attached to it due to its poor readability. In addition, some of its records wentagainst the traditional Confucianism, so it was left out in cold. Until Son Dynasty, itsoriginal version had been lost. There are two versions in existence: the Ancient TextBamboo Annals and the Modern Text Bamboo Annals. At present, the value of thehistorical materials of Bamboo Annals has been brought to the forefront.Spring and Autumn Annals were written by the historiographers in Lu Dynasty.In light of the school of Confucian classics, the study on Spring and Autumn Annalsfalls into two schools: School of Ancient Text Confucianism and School of New TextConfucianism. School of Ancient Text Confucianism holds that Spring and AutumnAnnals, compilation of the data recorded by the historiographers in Lu Dynasty, areoriginally narrative historic annals, but as the Confucian classics, adapted byConfucius, it contains principles of right and wrong in the narration of historicalevents. While in the eyes of School of New Text Confucianism, Spring and AutumnAnnals are the works of Confucius, and between the lines are the judgments behindthe seemingly indifferent words. Until the Republic of China, the school ofhistoriography regarded Spring and Autumn Annals as historical works and evenconsidered it was not written or adapted by Confucius. The famous historianShiWenlan also thinks Spring and Autumn Annals are a volume of chronicle history.Spring and Autumn Annals far outweigh Bamboo Annals as a whole, but both arethe national histories of the kingdoms ruled by ducks and princes in theSpring-Autumn Period and Warring States Period. Therefore, there are a lot ofsimilarities no matter in narrative styles or contents. However, there exist somedifferences because of the different reasons for their appearances, so there is muchcomparability between the two. The whole essay is divided into three parts: Part one, sketches Bamboo Annals and Spring and Autumn Annals respectively,with an emphasis on the narration of the incompleteness of the data about BambooAnnals and the source of the present the Ancient Text Bamboo Annals and the ModernText Bamboo Annals.Part two, provides an in-depth comparison between the Ancient Text BambooAnnals and Spring and Autumn Annals. Firstly, there is a comparison between the twoas a whole. Both are outline-style chronicles, but the Ancient Text Bamboo Annals arehistorical narration while Spring and Autumn Annals are the temporal records kept bythe people of the day, a compilation of data. Secondly, there is a brief comparisonbetween the two on the scope of records and the details and omissions. The AncientText Bamboo Annals have a broader scope of records than Spring and Autumn Annals.But the two both place emphases on records about conquering and the relatedactivities of ChaoPin, alliances. As a national history, both have an obvious principleof record-keeping, that is, details on national affairs while omissions on foreign affairs.Thirdly, there is a comparison between the two about the words concerning warswhich involved the most recorded activities and appeared most frequently, finding outsome similarities and differences respectively.Part three, provides an in-depth comparison between the Modern Text BambooAnnals and Spring and Autumn Annals, similar to Part two in pattern. Because thehistorical records in the Modern Text Bamboo Annals cover virtually all the contentsin the Ancient Text Bamboo Annals and the words used are nearly the same, it’s notnecessary to compare the words concerning wars in the two books. Hence, acomparison is made about the same historical events in the two books.Through the comparison between the Ancient Text Bamboo Annals and Springand Autumn Annals, the Modern Text Bamboo Annals and Spring and Autumn Annals,some findings are got: both Bamboo Annals and Spring and Autumn Annals keep apattern of narrating according to year, season, month and day. But Spring and AutumnAnnals are far more structured than Bamboo Annals, and Spring and Autumn Annalshave a broader scope of records. The two both place details on national affairs butomissions on foreign affairs, details on wars and the related activities like the alliances but omissions on the monarchs and the national activities. Thus it can beseen that the similarities are the tradition of national history recording in theSpring-Autumn Period, but the two are not in complete agreement with each otherbecause of different situations in each state and different historiographers even thoughboth are national history. Due to different reasons for their appearance, Spring andAutumn Annals have more taboos while Bamboo Annals none. But this will not hinderthe similarities of the use of words between the two. The two books’ identical recordsabout the same event demonstrate further that many so-called principles are actuallytraditions of narration. Bamboo Annals are not endowed with the judgments behindthe seemingly indifferent words but a historical book about Wei Dynasty in the eyesof common people;there are more examples about taboo and respect of the king inSpring and Autumn Annals,but no one can say clearly how many judgments in it.