《春秋》周桓王缓葬说

The Research on the Deferred Funeral of the King Huan of Zhou in Spring and Autumn Annals

《春秋·桓公十五年》"三月,乙未,天王崩",《庄公三年》"夏,五月,葬桓王",周桓王自薨至葬历时凡七年。历代学者对经文中的"葬"字有两种不同的说解,一说是缓葬,以《左传》为代表;一说是改葬,以《公羊传》为代表。此两说,各以为是,至今无定论。从《春秋》经传字例、《春秋》经传书法、周王室在东迁后的政治经济情况各方面考察,缓葬之说既符合《春秋》经义,也符合当时周王室实际。

In ＂the 15th year of Duke Huan＂ of Spring and Autumn Annals, there is a record that ＂On Mrach of the year of yi-wei, the king died.＂ In ＂the 3rd year of Duke Zhuang＂, it says ＂In the summer, May, the King of Huan was buried.＂ Both of the records reveal that the deferred funeral of the King of Huan lasted for almost 7years! It sounds incredible that all the scholars of previous dynasties have two different explanations to the word ＂buried.＂ （One explains that the funeral was too late, represented by ZUO Qiuming-s version of ＂the Annals＂, and the other is re-interred, represented by GONG yang＇s version of ＂the Annals＂.） One of the two versions defends itself against the other, without any determined result. Judging from the interpretations of the words and calligraphies, and analyzing the political and economic conditions after the move of the Zhou Royal Family, the statement of the deferred funeral is in accord with the connoted righteousness of the works and the actual status of the Zhou Royal Family.