Court annals chroniclesmay have been kept since dynasticstates, traditionally set 2200BC. Two annalssurvive today redactionsdating from 1stmillennium BC, Chunqiu(Springs AutumnsAnnals) Lu(only covering years721-468 BC) (translation: Legge 1872), Zhushujinian (Bamboo Annals) Wei,which reaches back mythicaltimes (translated Legge1868). 1stmillennium BC, haddeveloped from mainly ritual schedules historicalevents, which were consulted officialrecord-keepers were ritualcorrectness ruler'sbehaviour recordany transgressions. While carrying political risk, taskalso entailed certainamount autonomy,resulting increasingprofessionalization historian'scraft. moralizingcommentarial literature grew around ancientchronicles. Original documents governmentaction played emerginghistorical consciousness; allegedly Confuciuswho edited Shangshu(Classic ancientrulers, which were regarded moral-politicalwisdom (Legge 1868). After 221BC, Chineseempire, official historiography became stateinstitution (Pulleybla