Climate Stories Seen Through Art

Chapter 1. Landscapes of Adaptation and Prosperity: The Culture and Daily Life Shaped by Climate

The Script Left Behind by Vanished Elephants - The Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn Period (Chunqiu) refers to an era in Chinese history that lasted roughly 300 years, from 770 BCE to 476 BCE. It is known as an age of chaos in which hundreds of states vied with one another, and in which thinkers such as Confucius and Laozi appeared. What is unusual is the name given to this era. “Chunqiu” literally means “spring and autumn.” The reason is simple. The history book in which Confucius dealt with this era was titled the 『Spring and Autumn Annals』. And so this era came to be called the Spring and Autumn Period. Why did Confucius name this utterly chaotic era “Spring and Autumn”? Gu Liangchi, a Confucian scholar of the Han dynasty, wrote the 『Guliang Commentary』 explaining the 『Spring and Autumn Annals』, and interpreted it as, “spring means growth, autumn means harvest and judgment.” In other words, he likened spring, when all things begin to stir, and autumn, when grain is harvested, to the causality of history. The Confucian perspective is reflected here.

In modern times, however, a movement began to challenge this interpretation.