He Xiu’s Annotations and Examples for the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, in ten volumes, is a foundational work of Qing-dynasty Gongyang scholarship. It systematically elucidates what He Xiu called unusual and puzzling interpretations, establishing a total of twenty-six examples and four tables. Each example begins by listing supporting passages from the Spring and Autumn Annals and its commentaries, along with relevant entries from He Xiu’s Explanations of the Commentary. It concludes with an interpretation explaining the example’s central meaning. The tables are a variation on this method: they clarify the underlying principles by comparing related material across rows and columns, while the discussion of their main points appears at the beginning of each table in the form of a preface. By organizing He Xiu’s interpretive principles for the Gongyang Commentary, Liu Fenglu expounded his own ideas on Gongyang scholarship and established a rigorous theoretical system. This is essential reading for the study of Qing-dynasty Gongyang scholarship.
