The Three Biography of the Spring and Autumn Period is a book that annotates the "Spring and Autumn Annals".
The Spring and Autumn Scriptures are simple in words and profound in meaning. Without annotations, it is impossible to understand. There are three books annotating the Spring and Autumn Period by the Zuo family, the Gongyang family, and the Gu (禖) Liang family, which are called the Three Biography of the Spring and Autumn Period. There are two other families, the Zou family and the Jia family, which were lost as early as the Han Dynasty. Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, scholars have only relied on the "Three Biographies" to study the Spring and Autumn Annals.
The "Gongyang Zhuan" is that Gongyang Gao of Qi State was passed down to Zixia, and then passed down to his sons. The descendants passed it down orally. By the time of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, Gongyang Gao's great-great-grandson Gong Yangshou and Hu Musheng, a native of Qi, co-wrote the book. When and who first wrote "Gu Liang Zhuan" as a book, the historical records are unknown. According to the annotations of "Han Zhi", we only know that the first inheritor was Gu Liangzi of Lu State. According to Yan Shi's ancient annotation, Gu Liangzi named it Xi, Huan Tan's "Xin Lun" regarded it as Ming Chi, Wang Chong's "Lun Heng" regarded it as Ming Zhi, and Ruan Xiaoxu's "Qi Lu" regarded it as Ming Chu. Which of the four is correct is difficult to verify.
Extended information
"Spring and Autumn" is the general name of ancient Chinese history books. According to the records of "Hanshu Yiwenzhi" and "Historical Records Chronology of the Twelve Princes", when Confucius was writing "Spring and Autumn", he and Zuo Qiuming visited the historical records of Lu State. He was hired with proper etiquette and music. There were some praises, taboos and disparages in them. They should not be written down clearly. They should be taught orally to his disciples. But what the disciples said later were different from each other. Zuo Qiu Ming was afraid that his disciples would each have their own ideas and miss the truth, so he discussed the matter and wrote a biography to prove that the Master did not explain the scriptures in empty words. As for the second biography of Gonggu, the essence was passed down orally. After being passed down for several generations, it was written down.