The book Yanzi chunqiu 晏子春秋 "Spring and Autumn of Master Yan" is a collection of stories around Yan Ying 晏嬰, a lower nobility minister of the dukes of Qi 齊 who lived around 500 BCE. The book, although ascribed to himself, is of later date and was compiled during the Warring States period (Zhanguo shidai 戰國時代, 5th cent.-221 BC). The book Yanzi chunqiu consists of 215 stories arranged in 8 chapters. In the stories Yan Ying acts as advisor to Duke Jinggong of Qi 齊景公 (r. 547-490), and therefore the greatest part of the book consists of direct speech. Although the Yanzi chunqiu is a vivid description of a concerted action between a ruler and his dauntless and level-headed prime minister the book has never attracted greater attention among literati. Not even the Confucian comments added by the compiler(s) at the end of some of the stories were able to attract attention. For this reason no ancient commentary has been written. The stories around Master Yan have been collected by the early Han period 漢 (206 BC-8 AD) scholar Liu Xiang 劉向, in 8 so-called "inner" and "outer" chapters and 215 stories. The earliest commentaries have been written by the Qing period 清 scholars Su Yu 蘇輿 (Yanzi chunqiu jiaozhu 晏子春秋校注) and Zhang Chunyi (same title). The first modern commentary has been compiled by Wu Zeyu 吳則虞 (Yanzi chunqiu jishi 晏子春秋集釋). The language of the "Yanzi" is short and concise, with a lot of aphorisms. Source: Zhongguo da baike quanshu, Zhongguo wenxue, vol. 2, p. 1138. Zhongguo da baike quanshu, Zhongguo lishi, vol. 3, p. 1368 f. Contents 1.-2.內篇諫 Neipian: jian A-B 3.-4.內篇問 Neipian: wen A-B 5.-6.內篇雜 Neipian: za A-B 7.外篇重而異者 Waipian: zhong er yi zhe 8.外篇不合經術者 Waipian: buhe jingshu zhe

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