《左傳》紀事本末諸書中，章沖《春秋左氏傳事類始末》是現存最早的一部。考「紀事本末」類的確立，始於四庫全書，當時認為這體例創自袁樞《通鑑紀事本末》，又遵從朱熹推源其先例於《國語》或《尚書》，實則，這些說法都不可信從。紀事本末體的探源，應當返回《春秋》、《左傳》學的傳統，而章沖書在這樣的探源考察中，無疑是具關鍵性的一部著作。它更是由閱讀到編錄《左傳》這文本化歷程中的一個重要界標。

　　Among the Tzo-chuan narrative chronicle books, Chang Chung's Chun-chiu-tzoshih-chuan shih-leh shih-moh is the earliest one available. The "narrative chronicle" begins to exist in bibliographies a form on its own in Ssu-k'u chuan-shu, in which Yuan Shu's Tung-chien chi-shih ben-moh is the inaugaural piece. But, there are more than ten other examples of the Tzo-chuan narrative chronicle which began to exist earlier than Yuan's and Chang's narratives. Therefore, the narrative chronicle as a form of writing should not be said to have inaugaurated from Yuan; nor should it be said to have come from Kuo-yu or Shang-shu. Actually, the narrative chronicle falls back to the tradition of the Chun-chiu-Tzo-chuan studies in which scholars will find Chang's chronicle a key piece and a landmark in the process of textualization of the Tzo-chuan text.