A vivid chronicle of events in the feudal states of China between 722 and 468 B.C., the Tso Chuan has long been considered both a major historical document and and an influential literary model. Covering over 250 years, these historical narratives focus not only on the political, diplomatic, and military affairs of ancient China, but also on its economic and cultural developments during the turbulent era when warring feudal states were gradually working towards unification. Ending shortly after Confucius' death in 479 B.C., the Tso Chuan provides a background to the life and thought of Confucius and his followers that is available in no other work.
Price: $36.00
Pages: 232
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Publication Date:
08 October 1992
Trim Size: 8.90 X 5.90 in
ISBN: 9780231067157
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
HISTORY / Asia / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / General, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Asian / Chinese
An elegant English translations of thirty-seven of the most famous narratives in Two chuan... Sinologists who use it to check the references to Two Chuan so abundant in later writings may be confident that this translation embodies the careful scholarship of this eminent translator of Chinese texts... Those who are simply curious about ancient China may now, through Watson's selections gain entry into a world that among all the writings from the periodis uniquely Tso Chuan's own: a world marked by an eerie mixture of court intrigue, moralizing, scandal, omens, and battlefield histrionics.
Burton Watson is one of the world's best-known translators from the Chinese and Japanese. His translations include The Lotus Sutra, The Vimalakirti Sutra, Ryokan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan, Saigyo: Poems of a Mountain Home, and The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century, all published by Columbia.
Introduction
Table of Principle States
Map of Principal States1. Two Brothers of Cheng and the Mother who Doted on the Younger
2. The Revolt of the Ducal Son Chou-Hsii in Wei
3. A Quarrel over Precedence
4. A Wife's Dilemma
5. Two Half Brothers Who Hurried to their Death
6. The Deaths of Duke Huan of Lu and Duke Hsiang of Ch'i
7. Duke Hsien of Chin and Lady Li
8. Duke Hui of Chin
9. The Battle of Han
10. The Brief Career of Yu or Duke Huai of Chin
11. Ch'ung-erh: The Years of Wandering
12. Ch'ung-erh: The Return to Chin
13. The Battle of Ch'eng-p'u
14. Duke Wen of Chin's Attack on Cheng
15. The Battle of Yao
16. An Inglorious Defeat for Sung
17. The Responsibilities of Rulership
18. King Chuang of Ch'u Asks About the Cauldrons
19. The Battle of Pi
20. King Chuang of Ch'u Lays Siege to Sung
21. An Old Man Repays a Debt of Gratitude
22. The Battle of An
23. The Death of Duke Ching of Chin
24. Lu Hsiang Severs Relations with Ch'in
25. The Battle of Yen-ling
26. The Siege of Pi-yang
27. The Death of Hsun Yen of Chin
28. The Assassination of Duke Chuang of Ch'i
29. Prince Chi-Cha of Wu
30. Tzu-ch'an's Government Policies
31. The Death of King Ling of Ch'u
32. The Death of Duke Chuang of Chu
33. The Battle between Wu and Ch'u at Po-chu
34. The Battle between Ch'i and Lu at Ch'ing
35. The Revolt in Wei
36. The Revolt of the Lord of Po in Ch'u
37. Attitudes toward the SupernaturalIndex
