''Yijian Zhi'' () is a Chinese '' zhiguai'' story collection by

Hong Mai Hong Mai (, 1123 Poyang County, Poyang-1202 Hangzhou), courtesy name Jinglu (), art name Yechu () and Rongzhai (), was a Chinese statesman, Confucianism, Confucian scholar and writer during the Southern Song dynasty. He was the author of ''Yijianzh ...

of the

Southern 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 ...

. It originally comprised 420 chapters, but today less than a half has survived. The first chapter was completed in 1161, and some surviving chapters were completed in 1198 or later. A partial English translation was published under the title of ''Record of the Listener''.

Description

(1123–1202) had always interested himself in popular stories, and he titled his story collection after the ancient writer Yijian, who, according to the ''

Liezi The ''Liezi'' () is a Taoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a c. 5th century BC Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher. Although there were references to Lie's ''Liezi'' from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a number of Chinese and Western schola ...

'', wrote down the stories he heard. The stories are very heterogeneous: gods and ghosts, injustice and retribution, fantasy and uncanny have all been included in its storylines. There are 2692 stories in the 206 chapters that have survived. Chang Fu-jui classified them thus:

Reception

The stories have inspired numerous vernacular stories and

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

s. Zhou Mi of the late Song dynasty criticized the book as "greedy and acquisitive, full of eeriness." The book is considered highly valuable by modern researchers, because it provides rare insight into the economic, social, technological, and cultural-religious conditions of the Song dynasty. Because some stories are also found in other books, how they altered during the course of oral transmissions is also of interest.

English translation

* Zhang's selection contains a hundred stories.

References

{{reflist Chinese short story collections Song dynasty literature 1198 books 12th-century Chinese books