Guoyu (book)

The Guoyu, usually translated as Discourses of the States, is an ancient Chinese text that consists of a collection of speeches attributed to rulers and other men from the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC). It comprises a total of 240 speeches, ranging from the reign of King Mu of Zhou (r. 956–918 BC) to the execution of the Jin minister Zhibo in 453 BC.^[1] Compilation of the Guoyu probably began during the 5th century and continued until the late 4th century BC. The earliest chapter of the compilation is the Discourses of Zhou.^[2]

Guoyu

Language	Classical Chinese
Subject	History of Spring and Autumn period states
Publication date	4th century BC
Publication place	China
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	國語
Simplified Chinese	国语
Literal meaning	state discourses
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guóyǔ Wade–Giles Kuo-yü IPA [kwǒ.ỳ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gwok-yúh Jyutping Gwok3-jyu5 IPA [kʷɔk̚˧.jy˩˧] Southern Min Tâi-lô Kok-gí Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Kwok-ngjó Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[C.q]ˤʷək ŋ(r)aʔ

The text's author is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Zuo Qiuming, a contemporary of Confucius;^[3][4][5] although as early as Jin dynasty, Fu Xuan objected to that attribution of authorship.^[6]

Contents

Guoyu overlaps with the period, people, events in the Zuo Zhuan.^[7] And during the end of the Han dynasty it was called the preface of the Zuo Zhuan. Scholars like Xu Gan mention it in their work including the Balanced Discourses though the tradition died out.^{[citation needed]}

It comprises eight books covering the Zhou court and seven of the feudal states, divided into 21 chapters:

No.	Chinese	Pinyin	Translation	Chapters
1	周語	Zhōu Yǔ	Discourses of Zhou	3
2	魯語	Lǔ Yǔ	Discourses of Lu	2
3	齊語	Qí Yǔ	Discourses of Qi	1
4	晉語	Jìn Yǔ	Discourses of Jin	9
5	鄭語	Zhèng Yǔ	Discourses of Zheng	1
6	楚語	Chǔ Yǔ	Discourses of Chu	2
7	吳語	Wú Yǔ	Discourses of Wu	1
8	越語	Yuè Yǔ	Discourses of Yue	2