This is the first complete English translation of Lushi chunqiu, compiled in 239 b. c. under the patronage of Lu Buwei, prime minister to the ruler of the state of Qin, who was to become the first emperor of a newly unified China fifteen years later. Lu retained a group of scholars whose aim was to encompass the world's knowledge in one great encyclopedia; so delighted was Lu with the finished work that he is said to have offered a fabulous prize of gold to anyone who could add or subtract even a single word. An exceptionally rich and comprehensive compendium, The Annals of Lu...