Chūnqiū zhūguó tǒngjì 春秋諸國統紀
Per-State Chronicles of the States in the Spring and Autumn Annals
by 齊履謙 (撰)
About the work
The Chūnqiū zhūguó tǒngjì is the Chūnqiū commentary of Qí Lǚqiān 齊履謙 (1263–1329) — better known as a Yuán mathematician-astronomer (eventually Tàishǐyuàn shǐ 太史院使) — composed when he was Guózǐ sīyè 國子司業 and dated by his self-preface to Yányòu 4 (1317). The work’s structure is a methodological innovation: it organises the Chūnqiū’s events not chronologically but by state, in twenty-two “tǒngjì” 統紀 (per-state chronicles), each preceded by an analytical introduction. The first twenty cover states for which a guóshǐ 國史 (state-history) was extant — the source-base from which Confucius compiled the Chūnqiū; the last two are appendices for the zhū xiǎoguó 諸小國 and zhū wángguó 諸亡國 (small and extinct states). Order: (1) Lǔ, (2) Zhōu (notably not placed first), (3) Sòng, (4) Qí, (5) Jìn, (6) Wèi, (7) Cài, (8) Chén, (9) Zhèng, (10) Cáo, (11) Qín, (12) Xuē, (13) Qǐ, (14) Téng, (15) Jǔ, (16) Zhū, (17) Xǔ, (18) Sù, (19) Chǔ, (20) Wú. Internal-Lǔ-and-respect-Zhōu first; then five-grade ranks by jué 爵; states that suffered demotion are placed under their demoted rank; Chǔ and Wú are exiled to the rear for usurping royal style. The work explicitly treats the Chūnqiū as a one-out-of-many history (the title itself echoes the bǎiguó Chūnqiū 百國春秋 of Mòzǐ 墨子 and the yībǎièrshí guó bǎoshū 一百二十國寳書 of Xú Yàn 徐彦’s Gōngyáng commentary). Wú Chéng wrote the preface.
The SKQS editors are critical of two specific judgements: (1) ranking Lǔ first and Zhōu second (insisting that even a low-ranking Wángrén takes precedence over a zhūhóu, let alone the tiānwáng), and (2) Qí’s reading of Lǔ Zhuānggōng 莊公 as the son of Qíhóu rather than of Lǔ Huángōng (citing the suspect Gǔliáng “yí gù míng zhī zhī shuō 疑故明之之說”) — the editors consider this guāimiù 乖謬, perverse. Wú Chéng’s preface itself contains wēicí 微詞 — gentle disapproval of cases where Qí “sometimes presses too far in pursuit of shūfǎ 書法 conformity.” Nevertheless the per-state organisation is acknowledged as a useful navigational aid.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào (translated):
We your servants respectfully report. The Chūnqiū zhūguó tǒngjì in one juan, with table of contents in one juan (sic — i.e., the work’s actual juan-count is six in the catalog), is by Qí Lǚqiān of Yuán. Lǚqiān, zì Bóhéng, was a man of Dàmíng. He served at length, rising to Tàishǐyuàn shǐ; record in Yuán shǐ biography. This book was composed in Yányòu dīngsì (1317) when he was Guózǐ sīyè. His self-preface says: “Today’s Chūnqiū is a thing the sage made by amalgamating twenty states’ historical records; from the time the three commentaries specialised in bāobiǎn, the partition-and-amalgamation of the various states — i.e., what makes the Chūnqiū the Chūnqiū — has not been touched on. Hence I have arranged this work to fill the gap of the schools.”
Twenty-two essays in all: first Lǔ, then Zhōu, then Sòng, Qí, Jìn, Wèi, Cài, Chén, Zhèng, Cáo, Qín, Xuē, Qǐ, Téng, Jǔ, Zhū, Xǔ, Sù, Chǔ, Wú. Internal-Lǔ and venerate-Zhōu first; thereafter the five jué (ranks) determine the order; for states that were demoted in jué during the Chūnqiū period, the rank-after-demotion governs placement; Chǔ and Wú, having usurped royal style, are placed at the rear. The table of contents notes: “These are the states for which a guóshǐ existed and which the sage relied on in composing the Chūnqiū”; further, “the zhū xiǎoguó and zhū wángguó — for which there was no guóshǐ, but which appear because of their interactions with the twenty principal states — are gathered into two appendices placed at the end.” Each state is preceded by a discussion of its overall significance and the meaning of its placement within the whole.
The premise — drawing on Mòzǐ’s bǎiguó Chūnqiū and Xú Yàn’s yībǎièrshí guó bǎoshū — is that the Chūnqiū is not primarily based on the Lǔ history and not primarily about fùgào 赴告 (formal report-of-events) protocol. Examining: if the Chūnqiū did not principally rely on Lǔ history, it would not use the twelve Lǔ dukes’ regnal years as its chronology; if it did not follow the fùgào convention, the Jìn events would not be richly recorded only after Xīgōng and absent before. Qí’s premise is therefore a patchwork of unattested theses without checking the jīng itself.
Furthermore: the principle “Lǔ is internal, hence Lǔ may take precedence over Zhōu” is unsound. Even Wángrén — a junior royal envoy — is to be placed above zhūhóu in the ordering convention; how much more the tiānwáng. Qí’s classification of states puts Lǔ first and Zhōu second.
Two further specific points (omitting some): in Yǐngōng 8, zàng Cài Xuāngōng 葬蔡宣公; in Xuāngōng 17, zàng Cài Wéngōng 葬蔡文公 — the jīng clearly reads thus. Lǚqiān omits both, while at Huángōng 17, zàng Cài Huánhóu 葬蔡桓侯, he claims that all the lords were usurpingly styled gōng and only Cài kept the proper rank of hóu — and cites Zuǒzhuàn as evidence. Quite confused.
Again, the jīng’s “Huángōng 3, fūrén Jiāngshì zhì zì Qí” 夫人姜氏至自齊 and “Huángōng 6, jiǔyuè dīngmǎo, zǐ Tóng shēng” 九月丁卯子同生 — beyond reasonable doubt. The Gǔliáng “yí gù míng zhī zhī shuō” (a doubtful thing therefore making it explicit) is itself shaky; Qí goes the further step of asserting that Lǔ Zhuānggōng was Qíhóu’s son. Gravely perverse.
But because the per-state organisation is convenient for survey, and because his discussions sometimes have things worth keeping, we have preserved the work. Wú Chéng’s preface says: “He counts and threads-side-by-side, anxiously seeking conformity with shūfǎ; sometimes he seeks too far. But his work is no idle word.” Wú already had wēicí — gentle disapproval mixed with the praise.
Reverentially examined and submitted, Qiánlóng 45 (1780), second month. Chief compilers: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief proofreader: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Qí Lǚqiān’s tǒngjì method is a methodological innovation in SòngYuán Chūnqiū scholarship: cut the chronological frame and rebuild the work as twenty-two state-by-state monographs. The premise — that Confucius compiled the Chūnqiū from twenty extant guóshǐ — is genealogically traceable to Mòzǐ’s “I have seen bǎiguó Chūnqiū” and to the Gōng-yáng-tradition assertion (in Xú Yàn’s sub-commentary) that “Confucius gathered Zhōu shǐjì; he found 122 states’ bǎoshū.” Qí thus replaces the fùgào doctrine of the Zuǒ-tradition (events enter the Chūnqiū via formal report) with a guóshǐ doctrine (events enter the Chūnqiū via Confucius’ selection from a much larger source-base).
The work reads in places like a series of compact monographs in early Chinese inter-state political history — “Chǔ guó Chūnqiū tǒngjì”, “Wú guó Chūnqiū tǒngjì”, with their analytical preludes, are early examples of state-focused historical analysis. Some passages — e.g. the discussion of Xú Yàn’s catalogue of pre-Chūnqiū royal histories, or the comparative analysis of when each state’s guóshǐ enters the Chūnqiū record — anticipate modern intellectual moves in early-Chinese historiography (cf. Yuri Pines’ Foundations of Confucian Thought, 2002, on the Chūnqiū’s state-by-state textual layers).
Composition is exactly dated by Qí’s self-preface to Yányòu 4 (1317) sixth month yǐwèi day. Both notBefore and notAfter are set to that year.
Translations and research
- Lǐ Wěitài 李偉泰, Sòng-rén Chūnqiū xué dōu lùn 宋人春秋學論衡 (Tāiběi: Wénjīn 1995).
- Sūn Wěimíng 孫衛明, Sòng-Yuán Chūnqiū xué yán-jiū (Bēijīng: Zhōnghuá shū-jú).
- For Qí Lǚ-qiān’s mathematical and calendrical work, see Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China III: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth (Cambridge UP 1959), with discussion of his contributions to the Shòu-shí lì 授時曆 transmission.
Other points of interest
Qí is a striking case of a Yuán scientist-administrator producing a serious Chūnqiū commentary as part of his Guózǐ sīyè duties. The result has the analytical clarity of a calendrical computation and the polemical edge to match: he pushes a single thesis (tǒngjì by state, not by year) hard, and the SKQS editors push back equally hard. Wú Chéng’s wēicí is gentler but on the same side.
Links
- Catalog meta:
data/catalogs/meta/KR1e.yaml - CBDB person 110780 (Qí Lǚqiān)
- Yuán shǐ 元史 j. 172 (biography)