Guoyu (book)

The Guoyu, usually translated as Discourses of the States, is an ancient Chinese text that consists of a collection of speeches attributed to rulers and other men from the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC). It comprises a total of 240 speeches, ranging from the reign of King Mu of Zhou (Template:Reign) to the execution of the Jin minister Zhibo in 453 BC.Template:Sfnp Compilation of the Guoyu probably began during the 5th century and continued until the late 4th century BC. The earliest chapter of the compilation is the Discourses of Zhou.Template:Sfnp

The text's author is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Zuo Qiuming, a contemporary of Confucius;<ref>Zhou, Jixu (May, 2011) "Confucius and Lao Zi" Their Differing Social Foundations and Cultures", Sino-Platonic Papers 211. p. 2</ref><ref>Sima Qian, Shiji, "Grand Historian's Autobiographical Postface". quote: "左丘失明，厥有國語"</ref><ref>Sima Qian, "Letter to Ren An", in Book of Han "Vol. 62 - Account of Sima Qian" quote: "左丘失明，厥有國語"</ref> although as early as Jin dynasty, Fu Xuan objected to that attribution of authorship.<ref>Kong Yingda, True Meaning of Chunqiu Zuozhuan "vol. 60" p. 20 of 146, quote: "傅玄云：《國語》非丘明所作。凡有共說一事而二文不同，必《國語》虛而《左傳》實，其言相反，不可強合也。" translation: "Fu Xuan said: '′Discourses of the States′ was not authored by Qiu Ming. Wherever they both narrate one thing yet their wordings differ, certainly ′Zuo tradition′['s narrative] is authentic while ′Discourses of the States′['s narrative] is spurious. The contradictory wordings cannot be forcibly reconciled.' "</ref>

Contents

Guoyu overlaps with the period, people, events in the Zuo Zhuan.Template:Sfnp And during the end of the Han dynasty it was called the preface of the Zuo Zhuan. Scholars like Xu Gan mention it in their work including the Balanced Discourses though the tradition died out.Template:Cn

It comprises eight books covering the Zhou court and seven of the feudal states, divided into 21 chapters:

Template:Numero	Chinese	Pinyin	Translation	Chapters
1	周語	Zhōu Yǔ	Discourses of Zhou	3
2	魯語	Lǔ Yǔ	Discourses of Lu	2
3	齊語	Qí Yǔ	Discourses of Qi	1
4	晉語	Jìn Yǔ	Discourses of Jin	9
5	鄭語	Zhèng Yǔ	Discourses of Zheng	1
6	楚語	Chǔ Yǔ	Discourses of Chu	2
7	吳語	Wú Yǔ	Discourses of Wu	1
8	越語	Yuè Yǔ	Discourses of Yue	2

References

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Guoyu Original text in Chinese
• Guoyu 《國語》 Chinese text with matching English vocabulary