Which Confucian classic is traditionally associated with the historical records of the state of Lu?

The Spring and Autumn Annals is the Confucian classic traditionally associated with the historical records of the state of Lu.

The text, called Chunqiu in Chinese, is a terse chronological record covering the history of Lu, Confucius’s home state. Its entries generally span the years 722 to 481 BCE. Traditional accounts say that Confucius edited or compiled it, although modern scholars debate the precise process by which the text reached its received form.

The Annals records events such as political appointments, alliances, conflicts, deaths, and unusual natural phenomena. Its wording is extremely concise, and later commentators believed that the choice of particular words conveyed moral judgments. This interpretive tradition became known as the “praise and blame” approach.

The text is one of the Five Classics of Confucianism. It should not be confused with the Zuo Commentary, Gongyang Commentary, or Guliang Commentary, which are later works that explain or interpret the brief entries of the Annals.