The ''Sushui Jiwen'' (涑水記聞; "Records of Rumours from Sushui") is a book written by the

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

historian

Sima Guang Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer. He was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official who authored the monumental history book ''Zizhi Tongjian''. Sima was ...

(1019–1086) in imperial China. While working with (劉道原) and others to compile a never-published ''Zizhi Tongjian Houji'' (資治通鑑後記), a book on the Song Dynasty history, Sima Guang collected many miscellaneous anecdotes. While he might have intended to include them in '' Tongjian Changbian'', the "weird" stories became ''Sushui Jiwen'' in 1180 after his death. The Sushui (涑水; "Su Water") is a small

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

, and Sima Guang was nicknamed Mr. Sushui (涑水先生) as his hometown of

Xia County Xia County or Xiaxian () is a county in the southwest of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is o ...

is on the Sushui. Because the book was compiled by later editors, the number of chapters vary according to the edition: one has 10 chapters, another has 2, and the one in '' Siku Quanshu'' has 16 — although many repetitions occur in ch. 9–13.

References

* 12th-century history books Chinese history texts Song dynasty literature 1180s books 12th-century Chinese books {{china-hist-book-stub