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Kongzi biannian 孔子編年 "Confucian annals" is an annalistic biography of Confucius (Kongzi 孔子) attributed to the Song-period 宋 (960-1279) scholar Hu Shunbu 胡舜陟 (1083-1143), courtesy name Ruming 汝明, style Sanshan Laoren 三山老人, but more probably compiled by his son Hu Zai 胡仔 (1095-1170), courtesy name Yuanren 元任.
The 5-juan long Kongzi biannian is based on numerous sources providing information on the life and words by Confucius. The most important sources were the Lunyu 論語 "Confucian Analects", the Chunqiu 春秋 "Spring and Autumn Annals" and their three commentaries, the Liji 禮記 "Records of Rites", Kongzi jiayu 孔子家語, and Confucius's biography in the history book Shiji 史記 (47 Kongzi shijia 孔子世家).
The Kongzi biannian begins in 551 BCE and reaches down to the year 497. The problem for the compilation of this annalistic biography was that most events and sayings of Confucius are not dated but can only be brought into a very crude chronological frame. The book therefore often deviates from the strict form of annalistic composition. It has nevertheless been given an eminent position as the first book in the biographic section (Zhuanji 傳記) of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. The earliest surviving print dates drom the Wanli reign-period 萬曆 (1573-1619) and was produced in Korea.
Apart from the Siku quanshu version, there are a print from 1818 and one from 1866, published by the Mowen Studio 墨文齋 in Beijing. The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Hu Peihui 胡培翬 (1782-1849) compared older versions and published an annotated version of the Kongzi biannian.
Two other commented versions are the Jinzi jiaci 金紫家祠 version from the Jiaqing reign-period 嘉慶 (1796-1820) and Hu Zhan's 胡湛 commentary from 1870.
Another book with the title Kongzi biannian was written by Di Ziqi 狄子奇 (early 19th cent.), courtesy name Xing'an 惺庵, Xingyuan 惺垣 or Shuying 叔穎. His book has a length of 4 juan and is often published together with Di's biography of the philosopher Meng Ke 孟軻 (385-304 or 372-289 BCE), Mengzi biannian 孟子編年, in combination called Kong-Meng biannian 孔孟編年.