The research focuses on the war between Jin(®Ê°ê) and Qin (¯³°ê)during the Spring and Autumn period (¬K¬î®É´Á) in China, emphasizing on the 21 battles between Jin and Qin over hundred and twenty six years starting from 672 B.C. till 546 B.C.. Events commenced with Jin attacked Li Jung (Æz¦¥) in 672 B.C. and ending just before the second cease fire treaty (²Ä¤G¦¸«Ú§L¤§·ù) in the Spring and Autumn period in 546 B.C.. The discussion topics include the rationale, proceedings of events and outcome of the battles, with an evaluation of power distribution after the battles. This thesis comprises of 5 chapters: The first chapter is the preface, explaining the motives and aims of this research. It also includes the scope, methods and related literature review of the research. The second chapter dwell on the Battle of Hanyuan (Áú­ì¤§¾Ô), with Duke Hui of Jin (®Ê´f¤½) and Duke Mu of Qin (¯³¿p¤½) as the main background characters. The third chapter is on the most important battle between Jin and Qin - the Battle of Yao (Ù⤧¾Ô) and four of its related battles. The fourth chapter focuses on the Battle of Linghu (¥Oª°¤§§Ð), Battle of Hequ (ªe¦±¤§¾Ô), Battle of Masui (³ÂÀG¤§¾Ô), Battle of Li (òR¤§§Ð) and 11 other related battles. The conclusion is in three parts: the effect of battles, the findings of research and the integrated analyses. Six important points are made to finalize the importance of battles in the maintenance of relationship between Jin and Qin.

This thesis mainly discusses the System of Counties in the Period of Spring And Autumn, the System of Prefectures and the Placement of Officials in the Period of Warring States.It contains various countries' prefectures and counties' officers and the origin of the placement of officials, its changing conditions, as well as its development and the distributed situation.The study is focused on whether these systems were closely conneted to its time and various districts.

This thesis is the first indepth analysis of the jian, or advisory speeches, within a relatively unknown text, the Yanzi Chunqiu. It examines the way the Chunqiu period advisor Yanzi employs rhetorical techniques within the jian to change the conduct of his ruler Duke Jing according to Yanzi's three key political views: that the welfare of the common people is essential for the well-being of the state, that li 礼 (or ritual propriety) is of central importance in administering the state, and that the correct relationship between the minister and the ruler is he 和 (a complementary one). This study situates jian, ministerial responsibilities and Yanzi's own political views within the political and intellectual context of the Chunqiu period. It also disagrees with several scholars who claim that the text is unlikely to be a true record of this period. The rhetorical techniques within the jian (the majority of which are translated for the first time into English in this thesis), categorised according to whether they are typical (analogy, citation and chain reasoning) or atypical (provocation, song, lying and threatening resignation), are then analysed. The thesis finds that Yanzi's use of citations, analogies and chain reasoning confirms much existing research on Chinese rhetoric about the application of such techniques. However, the discoveries of Yanzi's atypical use of jian, as well as his frequent reference to Duke Huan as a historical model and his use of possible negative consequences to instill fear in his ruler, indicate that the present understanding of jian by several Western scholars largely based on the Zuozhuan and the Guoyu presents only a partial understanding of jian. The thesis suggests that more attention should be paid to lesser-known texts such as the Yanzi Chunqiu for a clearer picture of the rhetoric of this period.

111 pages / The Zuozhuan 评论 (Zuo Commentaries); a narrative history of China's Spring and Autumn period (722-479 BCE), has been included among the thirteen classics of Confucianism since the Tang dynasty. Yet its pages contain numerous references to Shang and early Zhou divination practices. It seems paradoxical that a text identified with Confucian humanism would be full of references to the supernatural. I suggest that the Zuozhuan builds upon the foundations of the authority of Shang and Zhou ritual to establish the authority of Confucian doctrine. This phenomenon has been mentioned by other scholars, though no study has addressed this directly. It is the goal of this thesis to use passages in the Zuozhuan to demonstrate how authority moved from an external source to an internal source during the Eastern Zhou and to show that Zuozhuan makes use of something that Lakoff and Johnson have called idealized cognitive models.

This thesis deals with diplomatic relations in the Chunqiu period or the Spring and Autumn period. It introduces characterization of process of diplomatic meeting, how they are described in the text of the Zhouli. As a main source it uses early chinese text of the Yanzi chunqiu - Annals of Mister Yan. It gives information about a personage of Yan Ying - a minister in the state of Qi in the 6th century BC, as well as about the text itself, including history, authenticity and other questions. It presents own translations of episodes concerning diplomatic relations. For a comparison it presents episodes from the text of Zuo Zhuan, in which we can find Yan Ying. Based on a summary of political situation of this period it resumes, how could episodes of diplomatic meetings correspond to reality of this period. As a result it summarize, how opinions claimed during diplomatic meetings could differ from other episodes.