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Review of Lineages Embedded in Temple Networks

2024, Journal of Chinese History

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mistakenly claimed that the generic designation ren (人) was used to indicate some sort of blame or criticism (39), or when the pioneering sinologist George Kennedy supposed that the frequency of notices of deaths in other states was correlated with their distance from Lu (270n38). Throughout her book, Van Auken handles large quantities of complicated data with admirable clarity and precision, with the sixteen tables and sixteen sample data sets being particularly helpful. Exceptions and anomalies are duly noted, exhaustively so, but often in the endnotes, so as not to overly complicate her presentation of patterns. It is important to observe that Van Auken is not especially concerned with the history of the Spring and Autumn period. Rather, as her title indicates, she is interested in historiography. She demonstrates that the purpose of the Spring and Autumn was not to encode esoteric, sagely judgments, nor was it an unsophisticated record of recent events. Instead, it was deliberately shaped to reflect status and hierarchy by Lu scribes following conventional rules of what could and should be recorded, in regular formulas and linguistic patterns. What she has uncovered is not the history of the era, but rather the values and priorities of the annalists. It is hard to imagine this type of textual analysis ever being done more thoroughly or accurately. To my mind, Van Auken has resolved two millennia of scholarly speculation and partial interpretations. Her Spring and Autumn Historiography is a remarkable academic achievement.