The earliest chronological history books in the world originated in China. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, all the vassal states set up historians to write their own chronicles, but the names were not uniform. Yan, Qi, Lu and Song are collectively called Spring and Autumn Annals. Because in Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty, there was only spring and autumn in a year, and there was no winter and summer, so the ancients called a year "Spring and Autumn".
In the Spring and Autumn Period, although there were four seasons, people still used to use their old names. Therefore, most national history books are named after Chunqiu. Jin called it "Cheng" and Chu called it "Yao Yao".
The historical books of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty vassal States were later lost, and only the Lu Chunqiu compiled by Confucius survived, which was a great contribution of Confucius. Spring and Autumn Annals is the painstaking work of Confucius in his later years. Confucius traveled around the world 14 years. After he returned to Lu at the age of 68, he asked politics as a "country elder", so he was qualified to read Lu's file. In order to express his political ideals and ideas for future generations to follow, he compiled "Six Classics" such as Spring and Autumn Annals in his later years. Mencius made it very clear about Confucius' intention to edit the Spring and Autumn Annals: "The world is declining, heretical atrocities are committed, and ministers kill the king; A son killed his father. Confucius was afraid and wrote Spring and Autumn Annals.