Friday, September 18, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Early Histories
The earliest Chinese historical writing — the Book of Documents, the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Discourses of the States, the Lost Book of Zhou, the Bamboo Annals, the Travels of King Mu, the Strategies of the Warring States, and Sima Qian's Records — in Good Works Translations with their complete classical Chinese source texts.
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Texts
Discourses of the States — Discourses of Chu — Guoyu Chu YuBooks 17 and 18 of the Discourses of the States, the discourses of Chu: eighteen episodes of counsel and remonstrance at the Chu court, from the tutoring of an heir apparent and the severing of the way between Earth and Heaven to the treasures of a state and the rise of the vengeful Sheng, Duke of Bai — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Jin — Guoyu Jin YuThe largest state-section of the Discourses of the States, following the court of Jin from Duke Xian's fall into Li Ji's plots through Chong'er's exile and reign as Duke Wen to the fall of the Zhi clan at the siege of Jinyang — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Lu — Guoyu Lu YuThe Lu discourses of the Discourses of the States, following the dukes and grandees of Confucius's home state from Duke Zhuang's era through the ministries of Zang Wenzhong and Ji Wenzi to anecdotes of Confucius himself — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Qi — Guoyu Qi YuThe single book of Qi discourses in the Discourses of the States, a sustained record of Guan Zhong's statecraft under Duke Huan from his rescue from Lu through the organization of the state to the achievement of hegemony — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Wu — Guoyu Wu YuBook 19 of the Discourses of the States, the discourses of Wu: nine episodes tracing King Fuchai's wars against Yue and Qi, his rejection of Shen Xu's remonstrance and Shen Xu's forced suicide, the meeting at Huangchi, and the fall of Wu — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Yue — Guoyu Yue YuBooks 20 and 21 of the Discourses of the States, the discourses of Yue: King Goujian's recovery after the surrender at Kuaiji and his destruction of Wu, followed by Fan Li's counsel on holding fullness and waiting for the right season before he vanishes onto the Five Lakes — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Zheng — Guoyu Zheng YuBook 16 of the Discourses of the States: the court historian Shi Bo's discourse to Duke Huan of Zheng on the coming fall of the Western Zhou, on harmony and uniformity, and on where among the lords power would rise next — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Discourses of the States — Discourses of Zhou — Guoyu Zhou YuThe opening books of the Discourses of the States, following the courts of the Zhou kings from King Mu's campaign against the Quanrong to the last generation before Zhou's late Spring and Autumn decline, in speeches of remonstrance, ritual dispute, and omen — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including Wei Zhao's commentary.Shiji 1 — Wudi BenjiSima Qian's opening Basic Annal traces the legendary Five Emperors — the Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu, Ku, Yao, and Shun — through their genealogies, virtues, and government, newly translated from the classical Chinese — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 2 — Xia BenjiSima Qian's second Basic Annal follows Yu's taming of the flood and his Nine Provinces tribute survey through the founding and decline of the Xia dynasty down to Jie's overthrow by Tang of Shang, newly translated from the classical Chinese — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 3 — Yin BenjiSima Qian's third Basic Annal traces the Yin dynasty from Xie's legendary birth and Cheng Tang's overthrow of Xia through Pan Geng's move of the capital, Wu Ding's rise, and the tyranny and fall of the last king Zhou Xin, newly translated from the classical Chinese — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 4 — Zhou BenjiSima Qian's fourth Basic Annal spans the Zhou dynasty from Hou Ji's legendary birth through the conquest of Shang under Kings Wen and Wu, the Duke of Zhou's regency, the Gonghe interregnum, King You's fall to Bao Si and the Rong, the move east under King Ping, and the dynasty's long decline into the Warring States down to its absorption by Qin, newly translated from the classical Chinese — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 5 — Qin BenjiSima Qian's fifth Basic Annal follows the state of Qin from its legendary ancestors and Feizi's horse-breeding enfeoffment through Duke Mu's rise to hegemony, Duke Xiao's reforms under Lord Shang, and the Warring States kings down to the eve of unification, newly translated from the classical Chinese — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 6 — Qin Shihuang BenjiSima Qian's sixth Basic Annal follows the First Emperor of Qin from his accession through the conquest of the six states, unification, the great tours and stone inscriptions, the burning of books, his death at Shaqiu, the forged succession, the Second Emperor's ruin, and the fall of Qin to Chen Sheng's revolt and the armies of Chu, closing with the Grand Historian's judgment on the causes of Qin's collapse, newly translated from the classical Chinese — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 7 — Xiang Yu BenjiSima Qian's account of Xiang Yu's rise from Chu nobility through command at Julu and the Hongmen banquet to his self-declared hegemony over eighteen kingdoms and his four-year war against Liu Bang, ending in defeat at Gaixia and death at the Wu River — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 8 — Gaozu BenjiSima Qian's account of Liu Bang's rise from a minor Pei station chief through the fall of Qin, the Hongmen banquet, and four years of war against Xiang Yu to his founding of the Han dynasty as Emperor Gaozu, his campaigns against the kings who rebelled against him, and his death — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 9 — Lü Taihou BenjiSima Qian's account of Empress Dowager Lü's dominance over the early Han court after Gaozu's death, from her destruction of Lady Qi and the King of Zhao through her elevation of Lü kinsmen to kingships in defiance of Gaozu's own covenant to the Lü clan's violent overthrow and the enthronement of Emperor Wen — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 10 — Xiaowen BenjiSima Qian's account of Emperor Wen's twenty-three-year reign, from his unexpected summons from Dai after the fall of the Lü clan through his abolition of collective family punishment and mutilating punishments, his frugal rule, and his peace-and-kinship diplomacy with the Xiongnu, to his death and testamentary edict on simple mourning — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 11 — Xiaojing BenjiSima Qian's terse year-by-year annals of Emperor Jing's reign, from his accession through the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms and the execution of Chao Cuo to a run of celestial omens, successive enfeoffments, and his death and succession by Emperor Wu — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Shiji 12 — Xiaowu BenjiSima Qian's account of Emperor Wu's decades-long pursuit of communion with spirits and immortals through sacrifices to Taiyi and the Sovereign Earth, a succession of masters of methods, the discovery of an ancient cauldron, and the feng and shan sacrifices at Mount Tai — with its complete classical Chinese source text.Strategies of the Warring States — Liu Xiang's Editorial Preface — Zhanguo Ce Liu Xiang ShuluLiu Xiang's own postface to his Han-dynasty compilation of the Zhanguo Ce, recounting how he collated the scattered palace copies into thirty-three pian, settled on its title, and traced the decline from the virtue of the Zhou founders through the Spring and Autumn hegemons to the deceit, war, and eventual ruin of the Warring States and Qin — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Chu — Zhanguo Ce Chu CeThe four books of the Strategies of Chu, from Jiang Yi's fable of the fox who borrows the tiger's might and King Wei's roll call of five selfless ministers before Mo'ao Zihua, through the ruses that freed Zhang Yi from King Huai's custody and the three-counselor debate over the ceded Eastern Territory, to the Lord of Chunshen's rise under Li Yuan's scheme and his assassination at the Thorn Gate — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Eastern Zhou — Zhanguo Ce Eastern Zhou CeThe strategies of Eastern Zhou, the smaller of the two rump Zhou domains, from Yan Shuai's twin embassies to Qi over the Nine Cauldrons and the fall of Yiyang through the standing rivalry of Eastern and Western Zhou, the dismissal and reinstatement of the chancellor Lü Cang, a man of Wen's claim to citizenship under Heaven, and the plot against the defector Chang Ta — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Han — Zhanguo Ce Han CeThe three books of the Strategies of Han, from the division of the Zhi clan's lands and Duan Gui's counsel to seize Chenggao through the rival persuasions of Su Qin and Zhang Yi for the Vertical and Horizontal Alliances and Nie Zheng's assassination of the chancellor Han Kui at Yan Zhongzi's request, down to the debate over rescuing Han at Huayang before the Marquis of Rang — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Qi — Zhanguo Ce Qi CeThe six books of the Strategies of Qi, from Lord Jingguo's parable of the great fish and Zou Ji's mirror comparison to Xu Gong that opened the court to remonstrance, through the rival persuasions of Su Qin and Zhang Yi and Su Qin's essay to King Min on the leverage of circumstance, Lord Mengchang's retainers and the ivory-bed episode in Chu, and Tian Dan's recovery of Qi from Yan by way of Lu Zhonglian's letter and Diao Bo's defense of him against slander, down to King Jian's surrender to Qin and his death among the pines and cypresses at Gong — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Qin — Zhanguo Ce Qin CeThe five books of the Strategies of Qin, from Lord Shang's harsh reforms and death by chariots through Su Qin's rejected Horizontal persuasion and later chancellorship of the rival Vertical Alliance, Zhang Yi and Sima Cuo's debate over attacking Shu or Han, Gan Mao's siege of Yiyang sealed by the covenant at Xirang, and Fan Sui's rise and his stripping of power from the queen dowager and the Marquis of Rang, to Lü Buwei's founding of a king in the hostage prince Zichu and the deaths of the Lord of Wu'an and Han Fei — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Song and Wey — Zhanguo Ce Song Wey CeThe single book of the Strategies of Song and Wey, from Mozi's day-and-night walk to Chu to talk Gongshu Ban and King Hui out of attacking Song with newly built siege engines, through King Kang of Song's omen of a hawk born from a sparrow and his hubris that brought the state down, to Nan Wenzi's twice-repeated wariness of gifts from the ambitious Zhi Bo and Sijun of Wei's deathbed transfer of power to check his own scheming ministers — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Wei — Zhanguo Ce Wei CeThe four books of the Strategies of Wei, from Zhi Bo's demand for land from Wei Huanzi and Wu Qi's discourse to Marquis Wu on the limits of strategic terrain through the rival persuasions of Su Qin and Zhang Yi for the Vertical and Horizontal Alliances and the Lord of Xinling's great remonstrance against joining Qin to attack Han, down to the tragedy of the loyal commandant Suo Gao at the siege of Guan and Tang Ju's defiant audience with the king of Qin in defense of the Lord of Anling — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Western Zhou — Zhanguo Ce Western Zhou CeThe strategies of Western Zhou, seat of the old royal capital and the Nine Cauldrons, from Han Qing's persuasion of Lord Xue and You Teng's warning to the king of Chu over the envoy Chuli Ji through Su Li's parable of the archer Yang Youji addressed to the general Bai Qi and the negotiation that saved Zhou from the Yongshi levy, to the dispute over the exchange of land between Han and Wei — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Yan — Zhanguo Ce Yan CeThe three books of the Strategies of Yan, from Su Qin's persuasion of Marquis Wen into the Vertical Alliance and Zhang Yi's countering embassy for the Horizontal, through King Kuai's abdication of the throne to his chancellor Zizhi and the civil war and Qi invasion that followed, to Yue Yi's campaign that broke Qi's seventy cities and his letter of self-defense after his recall, down to Prince Dan's commission of Jing Ke and the assassin's failed attempt on the king of Qin — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Zhao — Zhanguo Ce Zhao CeThe four books of the Strategies of Zhao, running from Zhi Bo's flooding of Jinyang and Yu Rang's long vengeance for his fallen lord through King Wuling's adoption of the Hu dress and mounted archery, the disaster at Changping, and the Left Master Chu Zhe's remonstrance with the queen dowager on planning ahead for a beloved son, down to the slander that broke the general Li Mu and Qin's final conquest of the state — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.Strategies of the Warring States — Strategies of Zhongshan — Zhanguo Ce Zhongshan CeThe single book of the Strategies of Zhongshan, from Zhang Deng's diplomacy that preserved the small state's royal title against Qi's pressure and Sima Xi's manipulation of a contest between two royal consorts, through the lord of Zhongshan's ruin over an unshared bowl of mutton broth and the two retainers who died for him regardless, to the closing debate between King Zhao of Qin and the Lord of Wu'an over whether to press the attack on Zhao after the victory at Changping — with its complete classical Chinese source text, including the Song commentary.The Bamboo Annals — Zhushu JinianAnnals by regnal year of the legendary emperors, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, and the kings of Wei, in the disputed received recension of a chronicle recovered from a looted tomb in 281 CE — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Book of Documents — ShangshuThe oldest collection of Chinese political prose — proclamations, battle oaths, counsels and charges from the reigns of Yao and Shun through the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties — in fifty-eight chapters with its Preface, with the complete classical Chinese source text.The Gongyang Commentary — Chunqiu Gongyang ZhuanOne of the Three Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals, a question-and-answer catechism that expounds the terse annal entries duke by duke from Duke Yin to the capture of the lin in Duke Ai's fourteenth year, traditionally traced to Gongyang Gao's oral teaching and written down under the Han — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Guliang Commentary — Chunqiu Guliang ZhuanThe third of the Three Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals, terse juridical glosses on the annal entries duke by duke from Duke Yin to the capture of the lin in Duke Ai's fourteenth year, ascribed to Guliang Chi's oral tradition and written down under the Han — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Lost Book of Zhou — Yi Zhou ShuA miscellany of Zhou-period announcements, instructions, and war manuals of very uneven date, seventy chapters named in its own table of contents of which fifty-nine survive in ten books, with the old commentary of Kong Chao translated inline — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Lost Records of Yue — Yuejue ShuAn Eastern Han miscellany in fifteen juan on the history, geography, and legends of Yue and Wu, opening with a question-and-answer explanation of its own title and closing with a cryptic name-riddle postface — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue — Wu Yue ChunqiuZhao Ye's Eastern Han narrative history of the struggle between Wu and Yue, legend-rich and threaded with songs, running from Wu's founder Taibo to King Fuchai and from Yue's founder Wuyu to King Goujian, closing with a set of fragments lost from the transmitted text — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Travels of King Mu — Mu Tianzi ZhuanThe badly damaged itinerary of King Mu of Zhou's journey west to the Queen Mother of the West and the lament for Lady Sheng Ji, recovered from the Ji tomb in 281 CE and preserved in six books with two early prefaces — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Ai — Zuozhuan Ai GongThe twenty-seven-year reign of Duke Ai of Lu, 494–468 BCE, the last of the twelve books of the Zuo Commentary, covering Confucius's old age and death, the destruction of Wu by Yue, and Duke Ai's own final exile — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Cheng — Zuozhuan Cheng GongThe Zuo Commentary's year-by-year chronicle of the reign of Duke Cheng of Lu, 590–573 BCE — the battle of An, the peace at Song, the battle of Yanling, and the killing of Duke Li of Jin — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Ding — Zuozhuan Ding GongThe fifteen-year reign of Duke Ding of Lu, 509–495 BCE, covering the fall of Chu's capital to Wu, the rise and fall of the steward Yang Hu, and Confucius's public service at the Jiagu meeting and the pulling down of the Three Huan's city walls — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Huan — Zuozhuan Huan GongThe Zuo Commentary's record of the eighteen years of Duke Huan of Lu, 711–694 BCE — the terse Spring and Autumn annals paired year by year with the narrative that explains them — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Min — Zuozhuan Min GongThe Zuo Commentary for the two-year reign of Duke Min of Lu (661–660 BCE) — the murder of the young duke, the fall of Qingfu, the Di destruction of Wei, and the sending of the heir apparent Shensheng — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Wen — Zuozhuan Wen GongThe Zuo Commentary's year-by-year narrative of the reign of Duke Wen of Lu, 626 to 609 BCE, together with the terse Chunqiu annal entries it expounds — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Xi — Zuozhuan Xi GongThe Zuo Commentary's year-by-year record of the reign of Duke Xi of Lu, 659–627 BCE — the hegemony of Qi, the long exile of Chong'er, and the battle of Chengpu — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Xiang — Zuozhuan Xiang GongThe middle years of the Zuo Commentary, covering the reign of Duke Xiang of Lu, 572–542 BCE, thirty-one years of covenant politics among the Chinese states, the rise of the statesman Zichan in Zheng, and the assassination of Duke Zhuang of Qi — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Xuan — Zuozhuan Xuan GongThe Zuo Commentary on the eighteen-year reign of Duke Xuan of Lu, 608–591 BCE — terse Spring and Autumn annal entries paired with the great Zuo narrative of the age of Jin and Chu, including the battle of Bi — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Yin — Zuozhuan Yin GongThe opening eleven years of the Zuo Commentary, the great narrative history of the Spring and Autumn period, covering the reign of Duke Yin of Lu, 722–712 BCE — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Zhao — Zuozhuan Zhao GongThe thirty-two-year reign of Duke Zhao of Lu, 541–510 BCE, the longest book of the Zuo Commentary, covering the covenants renewed between Jin and Chu, the rise and fall of King Ling of Chu, the government and death of Zichan of Zheng, and the duke's expulsion from Lu and death in exile — with its complete classical Chinese source text.The Zuo Commentary — Duke Zhuang — Zuozhuan Zhuang GongThe Zuo Commentary for the thirty-two years of Duke Zhuang of Lu (693–662 BCE) — the terse Spring and Autumn annal entries year by year with the Zuo narrative that expands them — with its complete classical Chinese source text.