Discussion On The Confucian Classics Argumentation Of Du Yu’s Recognition On Events Of Spring And Autumn Annals

The Collected Explanations of the Spring and Autumn Classic and Zuozhuan and the Recognition on Events of Spring and Autumn Annals written by Du Yu are of epoch-making significance in the study of Zuozhuan,which together constitute the complete system of Du Yu’s interpretation of the Spring and Autumn Annals and Zuozhuan.Contemporary scholars have paid much attention to the Collected Explanations and have explored its historical,documentary,and literary values.There is still some room for exploring the significance of Du’s study in classical hermeneutics,as well as the text of the Recognition on Events.As a matter of fact,The Collected Explanations and the Recognition on Events mutually supportive and form a complete system.It is easy to ignore the connotation of Confucian classics in the Collected Explanations due to the way of annotation.The Recognition on Events,programme of Du Yu’s interpretation,illustrates Confucian classics argumentation by “explaining classics with events”,which embodies Du Yu’s Confucian thoughts.By sorting out the system of Du’s discussion,the author has found that Du Yu had played a great role in further interpreting "restore the etiquettes of Zhou Dynasty" and "rectification of names" in his Recognition on Events.Du Yu seized the characteristic of Zuozhuan,which is good at explaining the etiquettes,and draws on the Zhouli and other documents to examine and summarized the etiquettes recorded in Zuozhuan in his Recognition on Events,aiming to emphasize Zuozhuan’s explanation of Confucius’ thought of "being gloomy and literary,I will follow Zhou Dynasty".In addition,with Zuozhuan as the basis,through the way of "explaining classics with events",the Recognition on Events examines the connotation of Confucian classics of different note-writing methods,calligraphic words,and character titles in the Annals.In this process,Du Yu established the position for Zuozhuan in interpreting the Annals.In fact,Du Yu’s Recognition on Events was a reorganization and innovation of the old opinions of Han scholars.Although Du yu “explaining classics with events”,which comes from Han scholars,but his interpretations has been obviously different from Han.Firstly,except for the death of ministers and solar eclipses,Du Yu did not think the dates in the Annals had profound connotations,which is different from Han.Secondly,the author looks at disasters from a relatively rational perspective,believes that earthly disasters are more important than visions,breaking away from the shackles of “explaining classics with disasters”.Thirdly,it is more realistic and credible to explain the “differents between the minority ethnic group and Han ethnic group" in the Annals by perspectives of historical development than the statement that minority ethnic groups and Han ethnic group were changed by one person in Gongyang and Guliang.Finally,with the example of "covering up monarch’s faults","avoiding calamity" and "adjusting the etiquette system",the Confucian concept of "adjusting measures according to the circumstances " has been reinterpreted,which embodies the spirit of the Wei and Jin dynasties.From the perspective of the history of thought,Du Yu’s theory was actually the product of the change of the style of study from the Eastern Han dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty,the barrier between the schools of Confucian Classics has been broken.Zheng Xuan was the mastermind,and the scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties are still inherited his legacy.Therefore,Du Yu did not blindly reject Gongyang and Guliang.Du Yu’s interpretation of the Classics were also related to the prevailing of historiography and metaphysics.Du Yu’s praise of the Duke of Zhou and the "etiquettes of Zhou" was not only influenced by the ethos that the ancient prose was incorporated to the Duke of Zhou,but also intended to promote the origin of Sima’s regime.