Jie'an Laoren manbi 戒庵老人漫筆

Jie'an Laoren manbi 戒庵老人漫筆, or shortly Jie'an manbi 戒庵漫筆, is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Li Xu 李詡 (1505–1593), courtesy name Houde 厚德, style Jie’an Laoren 戒庵老人. He was a native of Jiangyin 江陰, Jiangsu. His life was marked by repeated frustrations in the civil service examinations. Nevertheless, he was deeply devoted to literature and history, enjoyed assessing figures of the past and present, and was recognised for his upright, unwavering character, refusing to associate with those in power.

His work was compiled in his later years from his informal notes, capturing miscellaneous observations, anecdotes, and reflections from his reading. It contains 562 entries. The book records anecdotes and lesser-known events about people and affairs from antiquity to the Ming period, and it is regarded as having relatively high historical value. In particular, its records on Ming institutions and notable figures often fill in gaps left by official histories or serve as valuable corroborating evidence. Entries discussing household registration (hutie 戶帖), corvée labour systems, payments in lieu of artisan service (jiangban yin 匠班銀), and officials returning home after dismissal offer important source material on early Ming political and economic systems. Accounts of court and popular anecdotes, as well as the deeds of figures such as Yan Ben 嚴本 and Xu Xueshi 徐學詩 (1522-1594), are useful for historical verification. The inclusion of poetry, prose, and letters from Song- and Yuan-period figures helps to fill gaps in existing literary collections.

The work also demonstrates rigorous scholarship. It challenges the myth of Su Xiaomei 蘇小妹 marrying Qin Shaoyou 秦少游 (1049-1100). It reviews and amends instances of borrowing or duplication in Hong Mai's 洪邁 (1123-1202) Yi Jian zhi 夷堅志 and includes numerous other examples of textual criticism and correction of historical or literary mistakes. The organisation of the material is somewhat chaotic, and it occasionally features fantastical or unreliable anecdotes. Some of its evidential analyses also contain errors.

The book was first printed by Li Xu's grandson Li Ruyi 李如一 in 1597, and was included in the collection Cangshuo xiaocui 藏說小萃. A fragmentary copy of this edition is now preserved in the Library of Congress. The edition was reprinted in 1648 with some additions. The most widely circulated edition is the print from 1896, included in series Changzhou guangzhe yishu 常州光哲遺書. In 1982, Zhonghua Book Company (Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局) published a punctuated and annotated edition edited by Wei Lianke 魏連科.