The modern Chinese term “zuo zhe” (author) is derived from the ancient word “zuo,” meaning to compose, to do, or to engage in – all commanding a notion of power and authority. These semantic threads collectively underpin the long-standing contention that Chinese authorship began with Confucius. Mencius (390–305 BCE) was the first person to claim that Confucius was the author of the Spring and Autumn Annals: “When the world declined and the Way fell into obscurity, heresies and violence again arose. […] Confucius was apprehensive and composed [zuo] the Spring and Autumn Annals.”1 The Han historian Sima Qian (c.145–c.86 BCE) inherited this concept of “zuo,” acknowledging that “when Confucius was in straits he wrote (zuo) the Spring and Autumn Annals.”2