Abstract: The three biographies of the Spring and Autumn Annals, which record ancient Chinese sports from the dual vision of historiography and classics, have important research value. Using the methods of literature review and logical analysis, this present paper analyzes the sports activities and their cultural characteristics contained in The three biographies in depth. The study concludes that: The three biographies have the earliest records of four-season hunting, pot-throwing, long jump and high jump in China. Besides, the three biographies also recorded such sports activities as archery, unarmed combat, chess playing, horse riding and health preservation. The cultural characteristics reflected are fivefold: firstly, the basic characteristics of physical fitness are initially manifested; secondly, aesthetic entertainment is developed from ritual ceremony; thirdly, the competitiveness used to distinguish the superiority from the inferiority is becoming more and more obvious; fourthly, the dual education of sports in terms of technology and spirituality is manifested; and fifthly, war is eliminated and peace is maintained through sports exchanges and sports diplomacy. The records of the exchanges among countries and the sports elements concerned in the three biographies enrich the cultural functions and meanings of writing, and at the same time, become an important source of knowledge and ideas for the formation of the Chinese sports spirit.

Key words: The three biographies of Spring and Autumn Annals, classics, historiography, sports elements, cultural characteristics