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Overview
Chinese Name: 吕氏春秋
English Name: LvShi ChunQiu, Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals, Lüshi Chunqiu
Other Names: Lv Lan吕览
Author: Lü Buwei吕不韦(Lv Buwei) and his Retainers门客
Originally Published: Around 239 B.C
Genre: Philosophy
Brief Introduction of LvShi ChunQiu
LvShi ChunQiu, also known as Lv Lan, is a famous work compiled by Lv Buwei, Prime Minister of the state of Qin, and his retainers. It was completed on the eve of Qin Shihuang’s reunification of China.
This book takes “Taoist theory” as the backbone, Legalists, Confucianists, Mohists, Strategists and Yin-yang school as the material, melts all kinds of theories in one furnace, and flashes the light of broad and profound wisdom.
LV Buwei wanted to take this as the ideology after the unification of the whole country. But later, the ruling Qin Shihuang chose legalist thought, which frustrated all schools of thought, including Confucianism.
LvShi ChunQiu is the first collection of works organized and compiled according to plan in Chinese history. It responds to the time of heaven, observes the human feelings in the middle, observes the geographical advantages in the lower, takes the Taoist thought as the keynote, adheres to the code of conduct of inaction, uses the Confucian ethics to locate the value scale, absorbs the Mohist concept of justice, the debater’s speculative logic and the legalist’s skills in governing the country, Coupled with the strategist’s power change and agronomist’s pursuit of geographical advantage, a complete set of national governance theory is formed.
Author of LvShi ChunQiu
The authors of the book “LvShi ChunQiu” were Lü Buwei吕不韦(Lv Buwei) and his Retainers.
LV Buwei (?– 235 BC) was born in Puyang (now Hua county, Anyang City, Henan Province), the state of Wei. At the end of the Warring States period, he was a businessman, politician and thinker of the state of Wei, and later became the Prime Minister of the state of Qin.
In his early years, he engaged in business in Yangzhai, brought the protons of the state of Qin back to the state of Qin, supported him to become King Zhuang Xiang of Qin, was worshipped as a prime minister, led troops to capture the land of the state of Zhou, the state of Zhao and the state of Wei, and established Sanchuan County, Taiyuan county and Dongjun respectively, which made a significant contribution to the cause of Ying Zheng’s annexation of the six countries.
After the death of King Zhuang Xiang, Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng ascended the throne, and LV Buwei was worshipped as a Xiangbang, honored as “Zhongfu” and powerful all over the world.
Implicated in the rebellion of Lao Ai嫪毐, he returned home after striking the prime minister, and his family was exiled to Shu county. On the way, he drank poison and killed himself.
Excerpts of LvShi ChunQiu
天不再与，时不久留。
God won’t give you one more chance, and time won’t stay long.
流水不腐，户枢不蠹，动也！
The flowing water will not stink, and the rotating doorshaft will not produce mole crickets, because of movement.
察己则可以知人。察今则可以知古。
By examining yourself, you can understand others, and by observing the present, you can understand the past.
圣人不能为时，而能以事适时。事适于时者其功大。
Saints cannot create the current situation, but they can adapt what they do to the current situation. People who can adapt to the current situation will make greater achievements.