Sūn Shèng Jìn Yángqiū 孫盛晉陽秋
Sūn Shèng’s Spring and Autumn Annals of Jin by 孫盛 (撰); reconstructed by 湯球
About the work
Sūn Shèng Jìn Yángqiū 孫盛晉陽秋 is the largest individual reconstruction in the Kanripo Táng Qiú compilation series (1 juǎn, approximately 8,771 lines). It reconstructs fragments of the Jìn Yángqiū 晉陽秋 composed by the Eastern Jìn official and historian 孫盛 (Sūn Shèng, 302–373 CE), a history of the Jìn dynasty in 32 juǎn covering events from the Wèi-Jìn transition through the early Eastern Jìn. A companion smaller compilation is KR4k0336.
The reconstruction is organized chronologically by emperor and reign period. The principal coverage spans:
- The Wèi period background (Cáo Cāo, Cáo Pī, the Sīmǎ regency)
- Western Jìn emperors: Wǔdì 武帝 (265–290), Huìdì 惠帝 (290–307), Huáidì 懷帝 (307–313), Mǐndì 愍帝 (313–316)
- Eastern Jìn founders: Yuándì 元帝 (317–323), Míngdì 明帝 (323–325), Chéngdì 成帝 (325–342)
- Eastern Jìn later emperors through the early coverage
The text includes the notorious passages concerning Huán Wēn’s 桓溫 campaigns, portraits of numerous famous figures of the period (Wáng Dǎo 王導, Xiè Ān 謝安, Yuán Hóng 袁宏, Gù Kǎizhī 顧愷之, Táo Qián 陶潛 / 陶淵明), anecdotes about the Hǎinèi Bā Wáng 海內八王 crisis, and extensive political commentary in the lùn 論 form.
Principal citation sources include the annotations to Shìshuō Xīnyǔ 世說新語, the Sānguó Zhì 三國志 annotations by 裴松之, Tàipíng Yùlǎn 太平御覽, Wén Xuǎn 文選 annotations, and Tang-Song encyclopedias and miscellanies.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This is a jíyìběn reconstruction.
Abstract
孫盛 (302–373 CE; zì Guó’ān 國安) was a prominent Eastern Jìn historian who served under Emperors Mù 穆帝 and Āi 哀帝. His Jìn Yángqiū 晉陽秋 in 32 juǎn was one of the most admired annalistic histories of the Jìn dynasty, known for its unflinching critical assessments of even powerful contemporaries. The Suí shū jīngjí zhì records it at 32 juǎn.
The Jìn Yángqiū was celebrated in antiquity for a famous incident: Sūn Shèng wrote a harsh account of Huán Wēn’s disastrous northern campaign to Fāntóu 枋頭 (369 CE). Huán Wēn summoned Sūn Shèng and demanded changes; Sūn Shèng’s sons, frightened, altered the text in the copies they held. After Huán Wēn’s death (373 CE), they restored the original. As a result, two recensions circulated in medieval China: the “harsh” (original) and the “softened” (Huán Wēn-era) versions. This dual transmission history is the reason Táng Qiú compiled two separate reconstructions: KR4k0336 (Jìn Yángqiū) and the present KR4k0337 (Sūn Shèng Jìn Yángqiū).
After the Tang Jìn shū 晉書 was completed in 648 CE, Sūn Shèng’s Jìn Yángqiū gradually fell from circulation and was lost. 湯球 (Táng Qiú, 1804–1881) assembled the largest surviving reconstruction from hundreds of secondary citations. At 8,771 lines, this reconstruction is a rich source for the social history, political culture, and individual biographies of the Eastern Jìn.
Sūn Shèng also compiled the Wèishì Chūnqiū 魏氏春秋 (KR4k0332), a history of the Cáo-Wèi kingdom.
Translations and research
- Goodman, Howard L. 2015. “Jin shu.” In Chennault et al., eds., Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. IEAS, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 136–145.
- Theobald, Ulrich. “Jin Yangqiu 晉陽秋.” chinaknowledge.de.
- Mather, Richard B. 2002. A New Account of Tales of the World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yü). University of Michigan Press. (Shìshuō Xīnyǔ annotations are the primary surviving vehicle for Jìn Yángqiū fragments.)