Guoyu (book)
Ancient Chinese text
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The Guoyu, usually translated as Discourses of the States, is an ancient Chinese text that consists of a collection of speeches attributed to rulers and other men from the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC). It comprises a total of 240 speeches, ranging from the reign of King Mu of Zhou (r. 956–918 BC) to the execution of the Jin minister Zhibo in 453 BC.[1] Compilation of the Guoyu probably began during the 5th century and continued until the late 4th century BC. The earliest chapter of the compilation is the Discourses of Zhou.[2]
| Language | Classical Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Subject | History of Spring and Autumn period states | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication date | 4th century BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication place | China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 國語 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 国语 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | state discourses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The text's author is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Zuo Qiuming, a contemporary of Confucius;[3][4][5] although as early as Jin dynasty, Fu Xuan objected to that attribution of authorship.[6]
Contents
The texts compiled within Guoyu comprise the period, people, and events seen in the Spring and Autumn Annals, particularly one of its commentaries, the Zuo Zhuan by Zuo Qiuming.[7] Thus, during the end of the Han dynasty, it was called the preface of the Zuo Zhuan.[8] Scholars like Xu Gan mention it in their work (in this case, the Zhōnglùn 中論 "Balanced Discourses"), though the tradition has since died out.[citation needed]
The text comprises eight books covering the Zhou court and seven of the feudal states, divided into 21 chapters:
