 |
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. |
The Bamboo Annals (Chinese character: 竹書紀年; Pinyin: Zhúshū Jìnián) is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins at the earliest legendary times (Huangdi, 2497 BC to 2398 BC) and extends to the Warring States Period (5th century BC-221 BC), particularly the history of the Wei State. It has 13 sections.
The original text was interred with the king of Wei (died 296 BC) and re-discovered in AD 281. For this reason, the chronicle survived the great burning of the books by Emperor Shi Huangdi. The Annals, and other texts recovered from the same tomb, were written on bamboo slips, the usual writing material for the Warring States period, and it is from this that the name of the text derives.
The Bamboo Annals is one of the three most important ancient texts on early China, the others being the earlier Zuo Zhuan and the later Shiji. However, the authenticity of the current version has been called into question, so that some (including Qing scholars and Karlgren) would not translate it[citation needed].
References
- David S. Nivison (1993), “Chu shu chi nien”, Early Chinese Texts: a bibliographical guide (editor—Loewe M.) p. 39–47 (Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China).
- James Legge (1865), The Chinese Classics III: The Shoo King Prolegomena (Taipei: Southern Materials Center). (This contains an English translation of the Annals.)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
