晏子春秋

《晏子春秋》是记载春秋时期齐国丞相晏婴言行活动的一部书，成书于战国时期，唐代以前认为《晏子春秋》一书是晏婴自著。唐人柳宗元认为是由墨家学徒将史料和民间传说汇编而成的。清人管同认为《晏子春秋》“其文浅薄过甚”，是六朝人伪作。四库全书列为史部传记类圣贤、名人之属。但在1972年银雀山汉墓一号墓出土的竹简中包含《晏子》残篇，其内容与今本《晏子春秋》章次与文字互有异同，证明了该书在先秦时期即已成书，并非后世所伪造。

《晏子春秋》中的晏子爱民、任贤、廉洁、尚俭等形象，基本上是有史实依据的。例如晏子说“意莫高于爱民，行莫厚于乐民”（《问下》）；又说“廉者，政之本也；让者，德之主也”，又说“廉之谓公正，让之谓保德”（《杂下》）。该书记载了许多晏子劝告君主勤政、不要贪图享乐、任用贤能、虚心纳谏、以及爱护百姓的事例，更反对横征暴敛，滥施酷刑。这些观点既有儒家思想，又有墨家思想。西汉刘向对其加以整理，共8卷215章，分为内篇6卷和外篇2卷。清末苏舆、张纯一分别著有《晏子春秋校注》，现代吴则虞著有《晏子春秋集释》。

The Yanzi chunqiu ("Yanzi Annals" or "Annals of Master Yan") is an ancient Chinese text dating to the Warring States period (475–221 BC) that contains a collection of stories, speeches, and remonstrations attributed to Yan Ying, a famous official from the State of Qi who served Duke Jing of Qi (r. 547–489 BC). It comprises 215 stories arranged into eight chapters. The first six chapters contain accounts of Yan Ying's remonstrations with the rulers he served. The seventh chapter contains variants on stories from the first six chapters, and the eighth chapter has anti-Confucian episodes that the Han dynasty imperial librarian Liu Xiang—who compiled the received version of the Yanzi chunqiu in the late 1st century BC—considered to be inconsistent with the Chinese Classics.

The Yanzi chunqiu incorporates themes from both Confucianism and Mohism and does not fit into any single Chinese philosophical tradition.

History

The first mention of the Yanzi chunqiu in a received work appears in the 62nd chapter of the ancient historian Sima Qian's late 2nd century BC work Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji 史記), the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. Sima states that many scholars of his generation had copies of the text, but does not mention any author for it. Contemporary sources indicate that, like many Chinese texts, the Yanzi chunqiu circulated in a variety of different versions and collections. In the late 1st century BC, the Han dynasty imperial librarian Liu Xiang edited 30 total Yanzi chunqiu chapters down to the eight chapters that compose the modern received text.

In 1972, a large cache of bamboo slip writings known as the Yinqueshan Han slips were discovered in a Han dynasty tomb near Linyi, Shandong Province. Among the slips, which date to the early 2nd century BC, were 18 stories from the Yanzi chunqiu, thus confirming historical accounts of the Yanzi chunqiu's early existence.

Content

The Yanzi chunqiu comprises 215 stories arranged into eight chapters. The first six "inner" chapters contain accounts of Yan Ying's remonstrations with the rulers he served, and the seventh chapter contains variants on stories from the first six chapters, while the eighth chapter has anti-Confucian episodes that Liu Xiang considered to be inconsistent with the Chinese Classics.

Themes

The Yanzi chunqiu has proven difficult to classify into one single philosophical tradition, and much of the traditional Chinese scholarship on it has focused on its classification. The bibliographical catalogs of the early dynastic histories list it as a Confucian ("Ruist") work, but in the early 8th century the poet and scholar Liu Zongyuan strongly argued that the Yanzi was actually a Mohist work, given its numerous references to such hallmark Mohist terms as "universal/impartial caring" (jiān'ài 兼愛), "opposition to music" (fēi yuè 非樂), and "frugality" (jié yòng 節用). Liu recognized that Yan Ying could not have been a follower of Mozi, which would be anachronistic, but believed that the Yanzi was written later by one of Mozi's followers who was familiar with the traditions of the State of Qi. Liu's view that the Yanzi was a Mohist work was echoed by many subsequent Chinese scholars. Zhang Chunyi (張純一; 1871–1955), one of the leading Mohism experts of the modern era, described the Yanzi as "60 to 70% Mohist and 30 to 40% Confucian."

Commentaries

In the late Qing Dynasty, Su Yu (蘇輿) and Zhang Chunyi wrote Yanzi chunqiu jiaozhu (Chinese: 晏子春秋校注), and in modern times, Wu Zeyu (吳則虞) wrote Yanzi chunqiu jishi (Chinese: 晏子春秋集釋).

Translations

The first complete Western-language translation of the Yanzi chunqiu was published in 2016, and only a few English translations exist.

Milburn, Olivia, trans. (2016), The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan, Leiden: Brill.

Ariel, Yoav (2018), The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan, A bilingual edition in 2 vols, Beijing: Renmin University Press.

The following contain partial translations: