Zuo Qiuming

Chinese historian (556–451 BC)

Zuo Qiuming, Zuoqiu Ming or Qiu MingThe earliest extant mention of Zuo Zhuan is in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, where the narrative is named 左氏春秋 Zuǒshì Chūnqiū "Master Zuo's Spring and Autumn"; thus suggesting that the narrator's lineage surname (氏 shì) was 左 Zuǒ. Zhu Yizun 朱彝尊 (1629 1709) thought that the narrative's author bore a double character surname 左丘 Zuǒqīu; Yu Zhengxie 俞正燮 (1775 1840) thought his surname is 丘 Qīu, while zuŏ 左 "was the designation of his office", short for zuǒshǐ 左史 "scribe to the left". (556 – 451 BCE or 502 – 422 BCE One tradition, according to the Records of the Grand Historian, holds that he was blind. In the Analects, Confucius complimented Zuo Qiu Ming's moral stance and conduct; he also received praise for his academic contributions.

The basic philosophical outlook of Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiu Ming, is strongly Confucian in nature. The Zuo Zhuan overarching theme is that haughty, evil, and stupid people generally bring disaster upon themselves, while those who are good, wise, and humble are usually justly rewarded. Unlike the Histories of Herodotus or the History of the Peloponnesian War of Thucydides, with which it is roughly contemporary, the Zuo Zhuan′s narration always remains in the third person perspective, and presents as a dispassionate recorder of facts. The German Sinologist Martin Kern observed: "Instead of offering authorial judgments or catechistic hermeneutics, the Zuo Zhuan lets its moral lessons unfold within the narrative itself, teaching at once history and historical judgment." For instance, here Zuo Zhuan instructed how a should behave.

Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu were both attributed to Zuo Qiuming.

Zuo Zhuan is the earliest detailed and vividly narrated chronological history of China. At the same time, it is also a historical narrative with the highest literary quality. ("我国古代最早而又详细完备，叙事生动的编年史，同时也是文学成就很高的历史散文著作。")

Sima Qian first proposed that Zuo Qiuming was the author of Guoyu. Tang scholar Yan Shigu, while annotating Book of Han, also attributed Guoyu'''s authorship to Zuo Qiu Ming. Later other scholars doubted it and had different opinions on who is the author of Guo Yu, one example is Fu Xuan, who first raised the counterview that Zuo Qiuming isn't the author of Zuo Zhuan. Guo Yu's compilation method is based on the classification of countries, in Chinese Guo; taking language, in Chinese Yu as the core, hence receives the name Guo Yu''. ("它的编纂方法是以国分类，以语为主，故名'国语'.") Guo Yu is the first Chinese history book in national style. ("国语是第一部国别体史书。") Sima Qian honored Zuo Qiu Ming as the gentleman of
Zuo Qiu Ming is regarded as "the ancestor of hundreds of characters, the ancestor of ancient literature". ("百家文字之宗、万世古文之祖")