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
The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...
(771–476 BC). It comprises a total of 240 speeches, ranging from the reign of
King Mu of Zhou
King Mu of Zhou (), personal name Ji Man, was the fifth Chinese sovereign, king of the Zhou dynasty of China. The dates of his reign are 976–922 BC or 956–918 BC.
Life
King Mu came to the throne after his father King Zhao of Zhou, King Zha ...
() to the execution of the
Jin minister Zhibo in 453 BC. 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''.
The text's author is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to
Zuo Qiuming, a contemporary of
Confucius
Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
; although as early as
Jin dynasty,
Fu Xuan objected to that attribution of authorship.
[ Kong Yingda, ''True Meaning of Chunqiu Zuozhuan'' "vol. 60]
p. 20 of 146
quote: "傅玄云：《國語》非丘明所作。凡有共說一事而二文不同，必《國語》虛而《左傳》實，其言相反，不可強合也。" translation: "Fu Xuan said: '′Discourses of the States′ was not authored by Qiu Ming. Wherever they both narrate one thing yet their wordings differ, certainly ′Zuo tradition′ s narrativeis authentic while ′Discourses of the States′ s narrativeis spurious. The contradictory wordings cannot be forcibly reconciled.' "
Contents
''Guoyu'' overlaps with the period, people, events in the ''
Zuo Zhuan''. And during the end of the Han dynasty it was called the preface of the Zuo Zhuan. Scholars like
Xu Gan mention it in their work including the Balanced Discourses though the tradition died out.
It comprises eight books covering the Zhou court and seven of the feudal states, divided into 21 chapters:
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
''Guoyu''Original text in Chinese
Chinese text with matching English vocabulary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guoyu
Chinese classic texts
Chinese history texts
5th-century BC history books
Works of unknown authorship