The Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, unifying the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Everyone is familiar with the songs of this historical era. From them we can see that the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods.
The two periods are the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The Spring and Autumn Period, referred to as the Spring and Autumn Period, refers to the period from 770 BC to 476 BC. But there is another theory, which refers to the period from 770 BC to 403 BC.
This period was a period when the power of the king of Zhou was weakened and the princes and heroes were fighting. During this period, Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Xiang of Song, Duke Mu of Qin, and King Zhuang of Chu successively became hegemons. They were known as the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period" in history.
Then you readers may want to ask, the Warring States Period is easy to say, because it was the time when the war was chaotic, so it was named the Warring States Period. So where does the name Spring and Autumn come from?
1. The origin of why the Spring and Autumn Period is called "Spring and Autumn Period"
Here, a scholar tells everyone that the name Spring and Autumn Period was named after a book. This book is the Spring and Autumn Annals revised by Confucius.
Be sure to knock on the blackboard here and note that the book "Spring and Autumn" was not written by Confucius, but revised by Confucius. This book was written by the historians of the State of Lu to record the history of their own country, the State of Lu.
It does not record the historical content of other countries during the Spring and Autumn Period.
Some people may ask, didn’t other countries record their own history during the Spring and Autumn Period? You Shujun is here to answer everyone, each vassal state actually records its own history, and the title of the book that records its own history is also called "Spring and Autumn".
It is a pity that the "Spring and Autumn" written by other princely states have been lost and cannot be found, but only the "Spring and Autumn" recorded by the Lu Kingdom has been fortunately preserved.
Confucius himself was a native of the Lu State and knew his country quite well, so he organized and revised it based on the "Spring and Autumn Annals" written by the historians of the Lu State, and it became one of the Confucian classics we see now. "Spring and Autumn".
This "Spring and Autumn" records the 242-year history of twelve generations of monarchs from Lu Yin Gong to Lu Ai Gong. It records all the major events that happened during this period for future reference, allowing people to learn from history and learn lessons. It is precisely because the period it records is very similar to the time divisions of Eastern Zhou history, so we named this period of history after "Spring and Autumn" and called it the Spring and Autumn Period.
This is why we name this period of history after the book "Spring and Autumn" and call it the Spring and Autumn Period.
Then again, why is this book called Spring and Autumn? Doesn’t it record the history of Lu’s summer and winter?
2. Why is the book "Spring and Autumn" named Spring and Autumn
Of course, the book "Spring and Autumn" records the history of summer and winter in the State of Lu. There is a reason why it is called "Spring and Autumn" instead of "Summer and Winter".
1. Spring and autumn are the seasons when princes make pilgrimages and make alliances, and more things happen.
Because in the Zhou Dynasty, spring and autumn were the seasons when princes made pilgrimages to the royal family.
There is no severe cold or scorching heat in these two seasons, and the weather is neither cold nor hot, which is suitable for princes to drive to pay homage to the Emperor of Zhou.
In such weather, they will not suffer too much on the road.
When going to Hajj in the spring, each kingdom can summarize what happened in its own land in the past year, which can be regarded as a report of our current work.
And in autumn, the harvest season, each princely state can also prepare some gifts and bring special products from their own land to offer gifts to the Emperor of Zhou.
As for the Emperor of Zhou, during this period, he would listen to the status of the various vassal states in their own territory, and would also give some suggestions based on the questions they raised.
Or some tasks can be assigned to various princes. Of course, during this period, Emperor Zhou could also understand the sincerity of each vassal state, so that he could have an idea.
And during this period, envoys from various vassal states will also communicate with each other, taking advantage of the good times to visit neighboring countries and exchange feelings.
Sometimes several vassal states would organize alliances or the like from time to time to communicate with each other about political trends, ways of governing the country, and so on.
From this perspective, many important political activities occur in the two seasons of spring and autumn.
So spring and autumn will account for a large proportion in the book, so it will be named after "Spring and Autumn".
2. In ancient times, when farming was the mainstay, spring planting was the most important economic activity
Ancient China was an era where farming was the mainstay. Of course, the most important economic activities took place in There are two seasons: spring planting and autumn harvest.
Spring is the time when farming is busy, and no country in the world is thinking about starting any war. Farming is the first priority.
The country will be in big trouble if the land is not cultivated well and if we think about other things.
So, at this time, the king of the country has to be very busy in order to ensure that the country has a good harvest this year and that the people have enough food and clothing.
What are they busy with? Of course, we need to give full play to their ability to govern the country.
He needs to coordinate domestic resources and handle the relationship between agriculture and all aspects to ensure that the country has a good harvest.
So, many influential government orders related to agriculture will be issued during this period.
Many effective agricultural reforms will also be carried out during this period. Therefore, more major events will happen in spring, and of course more will be recorded.
3. Autumn is the best time for food harvests and countries to prepare for war, so there are more things recorded.
Autumn is a harvest season, and there is a good food harvest. This is also an important event for a country, so it must be recorded.
And some countries always have a restless heart and always want to harass or invade other vassal states.
Since the supply of food can be guaranteed during this period, the conditions for launching a war are met.
The farmers have finished their autumn harvest at this time and do not have much farm work, so they are eligible for recruitment into the army.
Therefore, there were particularly many wars during this period because the season was just right and neither hot nor cold. There is also enough food, so there is no need to worry about the lack of food and grass supply in the rear. There will also be more war events recorded during this period.
So "Spring and Autumn" mainly records events in spring and autumn.
Spring sows and autumn harvests in a year, with spring and autumn as the most important alternation, so spring and autumn are also used as the synonyms of the year.
Therefore, "Spring and Autumn" was named Spring and Autumn, which literally refers to history and time.
A period of time, a book, this is the origin of the name Spring and Autumn Period.
From the book "Spring and Autumn", we have a glimpse of what our ancestors experienced thousands of years ago. This is the worst period, but during this period, the brilliant Chinese civilization was born.