CHUNQIU FANLU: RESEARCH ON THE TEXT AND ITS FIRST COMPLETE WESTERN (ENGLISH) TRANSLATION

Although the Chunqiu fanlu traditionally ascribed to Han dynasty scholar Dong Zhongshu (c. 195 − 115 BCE), it is considered to be an extremely important book for the development of Chinese ethical and philosophical thought. It has been long neglected and has lacked proper non-Chinese scholarly attention. Up to the 2016 translation by Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major, only partial translations of the Chunqiu fanlu, had been published in English. Part of the reason for the neglect of the study of the Chunqiu fanlu and consequently its late translation lied in the complexity of the text. It connected to a number of obscurities about its origin, authorship and nature. Sarah Queen and John Major have made an important step forward in redressing this neglect. They produced a complete English translation and study of the Chunqiu fanlu. Besides focusing on the first complete English translation of the Chunqiu fanlu, this article reviews central questions and problems regarding that text and attempts to summarize the current state of research on it.