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of events in the feudal states of China between 722 and 468 B.C., the Tso Chuan has long been considered both a major historical document and and an influential literary model.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.

About the Author
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.

Reviews
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. Journal of Asian Studies



Book Information
ISBN 9780231067157
Author Wm. Theodore De Bary
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press