Biography of Zuo's Family in the Spring and Autumn Period, formerly known as Zuo's Spring and Autumn Period, was also called Chunqiu Zuoshi Biography and Chunqiu Biography in the Han Dynasty. It was called Zuo Zhuan only after the Han Dynasty. It is China's first detailed chronicle work and an outstanding masterpiece of historical prose.
According to legend, Zuo Zhuan is a historical book annotated by Zuo Qiuming, a native of Lu, at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. It is also called "Three Biographies of Spring and Autumn Period" together with Biography of Ram and Biography of Gu Liang.
* * * Thirty-five volumes, one of the Confucian classics, the longest of the thirteen classics, are listed as classics in Sikuquanshu. It covers the period from 722 BC (the year of Luyin) to 468 BC (the 27th year of Lu Aigong).
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Historical position
The remarkable achievement of Zuo Zhuan is that it is China's first large-scale and detailed historical masterpiece, which occupies an irreplaceable position in the history of ancient historiography. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the development of China culture was still in its early stage, and so was the evolution of historiography.
As far as reliable documents are concerned, the contents of a few works published before, whether they are part of the compilation of Shangshu or historical books compiled by various vassal countries (such as Chunqiu), are generally scattered and often contain only some outlines.
With a length of nearly 200,000 words, Zuo Zhuan comprehensively and systematically recorded the major events in the Spring and Autumn Period, covering the Zhou Dynasty and more than ten vassal states such as Jin, Lu, Chu, Zheng, Qi, Wei, Song, Wu, Qin, Yue and Chen, and frequently recounted the historical facts of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Shang Yin and even the pre-Xia period.
It adopts the way of chronicle, although it takes Chunqiu as the key link, but the scope of chronicle is wide and the narrative content is detailed, which greatly exceeds Chunqiu. The appearance of Zuo Zhuan marks that the compilation of China's ancient history books has entered a new stage of development.
Baidu encyclopedia-biography of Zuo Shi in Spring and Autumn Period