Sānshí Guó Chūnqiū 三十國春秋 (Xiāo Fāngděng)
Spring and Autumn of the Thirty States, by Xiao Fangdeng by 蕭方等
About the work
Sānshí Guó Chūnqiū 三十國春秋 by 蕭方等 (Xiāo Fāngděng, 528–549 CE) is a jíyìběn reconstruction of the more famous of the two “Spring and Autumn of the Thirty States” histories. Xiāo Fāngděng was a prince of the Liáng 梁 dynasty, the eldest son of Emperor Yuán 元帝 (Xiāo Yì 蕭繹). His Sānshí Guó Chūnqiū was a comprehensive annalistic treatment of the Sixteen Kingdoms and related regimes, originally in 30 juǎn — one for each state. The jíyìběn, at over 3000 lines, is one of the most substantial Sixteen Kingdoms reconstructions.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This is a jíyìběn reconstruction.
Abstract
Xiāo Fāngděng was a talented scholar and military commander who died young at 22 (drowning during a campaign against Hóu Jǐng 侯景). His Sānshí Guó Chūnqiū was a pioneering synthesis: it treated the Sixteen Kingdoms not as an appendix to the Jin official history (as the Táng Jìn Shū would later do) but as independent entities deserving of their own annals. The “Thirty States” included the major Sixteen Kingdoms plus smaller regimes like the Dài 代 (the future Northern Wei), the Qíūchí 仇池, and others.
The jíyìběn, reconstructed by 湯球 for the Guǎngyǎ Shūjú Cóngshū 廣雅書局叢書, draws on the Tàipíng Yùlǎn 太平御覽, the Shìshuō Xīnyǔ 世說新語 commentary, and other standard sources. It preserves significant material on the non-Chinese states that the official Táng history summarized or omitted. The text was lost after the Táng.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.