📖 Meaning
A writing style that conveys praise and censure through subtle, indirect turns of phrase rather than explicit judgment. It originates from Confucius's compilation of the Spring and Autumn Annals, where even the choice of a single word carried moral weight. The term now describes prose that quietly embeds the author's approval or disapproval in seemingly objective narration.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (史记), in the chapter on the House of Confucius. It records that Confucius, while serving as a judge in Lu, was willing to share his legal wording with others, but when composing the Spring and Autumn Annals he alone decided what to write and what to omit, so firmly that even his disciple Zixia could not suggest a single word. Later readers saw in this restraint a deliberate method of conveying moral judgment through understated language, and 'the brushwork of the Spring and Autumn' became the name for that technique.
💡 Example Usage
这篇报道看似客观，实则暗藏春秋笔法，字里行间都是作者的立场。
The report looks objective, but it is laced with the subtle brushwork of the Spring and Autumn Annals — the author's stance shows between every line.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 春秋笔法
- Pinyin: chūn qiū bǐ fá
- Literal Translation: spring and autumn annals, brush, method
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4