Whether the Warring States period was named after Liu Xiang s Warring States Policy

The historians of the Lu State recorded the major events reported by various countries at that time by year, quarter, month, and day, and recorded them in four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Confucius compiled and revised the Spring and Autumn Period compiled by the historians of the Lu State and became one of the Confucian classics. The Spring and Autumn Period records the major events of 242 years from the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of Lu Xianggong (481 BC).

Because the beginning and end of the historical facts recorded in it are roughly equivalent to an objective period of historical development, historians of all dynasties have taken the title of "Spring and Autumn" as the name of this historical period. For the sake of narrative convenience, the Spring and Autumn Period began in 770 BC (the first year of King Zhou Ping) and ended in 476 BC (the 44th year of King Jing of Zhou) on the eve of the Warring States Period, a total of 295 years.

After the Spring and Autumn Period, the seven vassal states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin fought for many years, and people called these seven vassal states "Warring States" at that time. "Warring States Policy: Yan Ce I" contains Su Qin's younger brother Su Dai said: "Where there are seven Warring States in the world, and Yan is weak."

It can be seen that the seven major vassal states at that time all had the title of Warring States. By the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the meaning of the term "Warring States" had not changed. It was not until the end of the Western Han Dynasty that Liu Xiang began to use "Warring States" as the name of a specific historical period.

The Warring States period began in 475 BC (the first year of King Yuan of Zhou) in the first year of the "Chronology of the Six Kingdoms" in the "Historical Records", and ended in 221 BC (the 26th year of the reign of King Qin) in the year when Qin destroyed Qi and unified the six kingdoms, a total of 255 years.

After the Spring and Autumn Period, it entered the era of the Seven Kingdoms competing for power, and this period was recorded in the "Warring States Policy" compiled by Liu Xiang at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, so people called it the Warring States.

Introduction] The Warring States Policy, also known as the "National Policy", records the ideas and strategies of the Zongheng family during the Warring States Period, reflects the social outlook of the time and the major political, economic, military and diplomatic activities of various countries, and is an important classic for the study of the history of the Warring States Period. The book is divided into 12 policies, 33 volumes, and a total of 497 articles. The recorded history, from the destruction of the Fan clan by Zhibo in 490 B.C., to the departure of Gao gradually in 221 B.C. to build the attack on Qin Shi Huang without accompanying Wang, about 120,000 words.

The author of "Warring States Policy" is unknown, and it is certainly not written by one person at a time. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang found six kinds of texts when he was proofreading group books, and the content was confusing and the text was incomplete. So, he revised and compiled it according to the country, and named it "Warring States Policy".

The Warring States Policy is beautifully written, the language is vivid, the arguments are clear, the wit is full of eloquence, the characters are described in a vivid way, and often interspersed with allegories in the text, which is used to illustrate abstract truths, which can be called a model of argumentative essays. Famous fables include "Painting a Snake to Add Feet", "Mending the Dead", "Three Holes of the Cunning Rabbit", "Fox and False Tiger Might", etc., "Warring States Policy" occupies an important position in the history of classical literature in China, and has had a profound impact on the literary turmoil of later generations.

During the Western Han Dynasty, there were many historical materials left over from the Warring States period in the secret rooms of the palace, but these historical materials were incomplete, and only half of the characters on some fragments were left, such as "Zhao" (traditional Chinese writing "Zhao") The character only "Xiao" remained, and such errors were common. The imperial court entrusted the task of sorting out these historical materials to Liu Xiang, a scholar at the time.

In the process of collation and revision, Liu Xiang divided the historical materials into countries, and compiled the materials such as "National Policy", "State Affairs", "Short and Long", "Words", "Long Book" and "Repair Book" into 12 countries at that time, and named it "Warring States Policy".

The characters recorded in the Warring States Policy are complex, including vertical and horizontal families such as Su Qin and Zhang Yi, as well as righteous people such as Lu Zhonglian and Tang Ju (jū), as well as warriors Jing Ke and Nie Zheng, who are not afraid of death. The characters in the book are realistic, and they are good at using clever and vivid metaphors to enhance the appeal of the article through interesting fables.

The Warring States Policy had a great influence on the formation of Sima Qian's "Historical Records". Because the book is too chasing fame and fortune, it exaggerates the role of the Zonghengjia, which is inconsistent with Confucianism in later generations and reduces its historiographical value.

Knowledge Base]

Let's each compete to draw snakes on the ground, and whoever draws it first will drink the pot of wine, how about it? One man was the first to finish drawing the snake, and when he saw that the others had not finished drawing, he triumphantly said, "I'll add a few more legs to it!"

But before he could finish drawing his feet, another man drew the snake. The man snatched the pot and said, "The serpent has no legs, so how can you add feet to it?"

With that, he drank the wine from the jug. The man who painted the snake's feet ended up losing the pot of wine that was almost up to his mouth.

The author is not alone, the book is not written for a while, and most of the authors of the Chinese chapter of the book do not know who they are. Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty compiled thirty-three articles, and the title of the book was also drafted by Liu Xiang. In the Song Dynasty, there was already a deficiency, and Zeng Gong made a correction.

There is a high temptation of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is now incomplete. Song Baobiao changed the order of the original book and made new notes. Wu Shidao wrote "Warring States Policy Proofreading", modern Jin Zhengwei has "Warring States Policy Supplement", and today's Miao Wenyuan has "Warring States Policy New Proofreading".

There must be, Liu Xiang's is not very clear, but there are many places in the "Historical Records" that are like this, the use of narrative techniques has clearly expressed the author's tendency, and the "Taishi Gong Said" of each article expresses the author's thoughts and feelings, for example, Sima Qian is against the war, and when describing the deeds of Wei Qinghuo's illness, he often simply uses the holy decree issued by the emperor to directly describe the past, which seems a bit faceless.

"Warring States Policy" adds personal thoughts, while "Historical Records" is absolutely true history.