Winner of the Patrick D. Hanan Book Prize for Translation (China and Inner Asia), sponsored by the Association for Asian Studies Zuo Tradition ( Zuozhuan ; sometimes called The Zuo Commentary) is China’s first great work of history. It consists of two interwoven texts - the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu, a terse annalistic record) and a vast web of narratives and speeches that add context and interpretation to the Annals. Completed by about 300 BCE, it is the longest and one of the most difficult texts surviving from pre-imperial times. It has been as important to the foundation and preservation of Chinese culture as the historical books of the Hebrew Bible have been to the Jewish and Christian traditions. It has shaped notions of history, justice, and the significance of human action in the Chinese tradition perhaps more so than any comparable work of Latin or Greek historiography has done to Western civilization. This translation, accompanied by the original text, an introduction, and annotations, will finally make Zuozhuan accessible to all. "Whether considered as a work of history or literature, Zuo Tradition is surely one of the masterpieces of world literature, and the translators and publisher are to be applauded for making it more accessible to readers everywhere in this handsome and readable new complete translation. The translation is crisp and lively, the introduction straightforward and informative, and the notes and indexes invariably helpful. In every respect, Zuo Tradition is a realization of Confucius's maxim 'Use words that are adequate to the intent; use ornamentation that is adequate to the words.'"― Edward Louis Shaughnessy , University of Chicago " Zuozhuan has anchored the entire corpus of Chinese historical writing for the last two millennia. Its canonical status as the work of Confucius has given it enormous authority not just in determining how Chinese historians should record past events, but in shaping how the Chinese imagine that history itself unfolds. Now that we have this meticulously researched and carefully considered translation, this foundational text can finally take its place among the core classics of early historical writing worldwide."― Timothy Brook , University of British Columbia "It would not be an exaggeration to say that with the publication of this new translation, Zuozhuan will become accessible to an incomparably larger audience, benefiting Western studies of ancient Chinese history, thought, and culture. . . . This translation will establish new professional standards for future translations in the field."― Yuri Pines , author of Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual Life in the Chunqiu Period "A milestone in the development of the fields of Chinese history, historiography, literature, and political thought. . . . For the very first time, this translation makes it possible to read the text continuously, to gain a comprehensive view of its rhetorical features, and to follow the inner patterns and structures of this highly complex text. . . . [It] will inspire entirely new lines of scholarly inquiry into the textual and historical world of ancient China."―Martin Kern, Princeton University "The three scholars who have joined forces to produce this new translation are. . . to be heartily congratulated. The resulting publication is. . . eminently readable, with bilingual text, helpfully divided into coherent sections, and annotation that provides necessary explanations without overwhelming the reader with minutiae."―Paul R. Goldin, Critical Inquiry "The translation team has successfully produced a work that is not only an English rendering but an accessible user manual for the Zuo Tradition ...[T]his translation will at last allow the Zuo Tradition to take its proper place among the classics of world literature and ancient history."― Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS) "This is a long-awaited monumental work that keeps what has been promised: It is a very well readable translation of the first major narrative history of China, one that for many years to come will replace the version that James Legge produced almost 150 years ago."― Monumenta Serica "[A] precise, elegant―and, yes, reader-friendly―translation that brings out many nuances in the text that had heretofore been lost to the English reader. Zuo Tradition does not merely complement Legge’s translation but supersedes it. It will itself be the new “measuring rod” in Zuozhuan studies."― The Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture "This is one of the greatest translations of the Chinese classical works into English."― Asian and African Studies "[N]ow, at last, we have a convenient, bilingual, and helpfully annotated edition from which to study this immensely rich work…Some books are so physically beautiful and so eminently useful that one is sorely tempted to celebrate their publication instead of reviewing them. Zuo Tradition is one of these won