Langqian jiwen 郎潛紀聞

Langqian jiwen 郎潛紀聞 "Things heard and recorded in Langxi and Qianshan" is a work of miscellaneous notes (biji 筆記) written during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Chen Kangqi 陳康祺 (b. 1840), courtesy name Juntang 均堂, from Yinxian 鄞縣, Zhejiang. He passed the metropolitan examination during the Tongzhi reign-period 同治 (1862-1874) and rose to the office of Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice (xingbu yuanwailang 刑部員外郎). The book's title refers to the two districts of Langxi 郎溪 and Qianshan 潜山, Anhui.

The work consists of four series, the, namely the First Series (Chubi 初筆) in 14 juan containing 695 entries, completed in 1880; the Second Series (Erbi 二筆) in 16 juan containing 610 entries, also known as Yanxia yiang cuolu 燕下鄉脞錄 "Miscellaneous records from the countryside below the Swallow Mountains", completed in 1881; the Third Series (Sanbi 三筆) in 12 juan containing 415 entries, also known as Rengui cangzha xiangji 壬癸藏札鄉記 "Country notes preserved from the year rengui", completed in 1883; and the Fourth Series (Sibi 四筆) with 11 juan, initially titled Pandu yushen 判牘餘瀋, completed in 1886. The first three series together total 1,720 entries. The Fourth Series was not printed in its time, but was only discovered in the 1980s, and is therefore rarely published.

The work draws extensively on old texts, while also incorporating anecdotes gathered from elderly informants, stories from literary and scholarly circles, accounts of integrity and corruption in officialdom and local administration, records of posthumous titles (shi 謚), civil examinations, the Hanlin Academy 翰林院, the Xiang 湘軍 and Huai 淮軍 armies and their various institutions, contemporary social conditions, and curious and entertaining tales. Among the most historically valuable entries are those recording the three major military supply levies to fight the Manchus during the late Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644), and the incidents during the Kangxi reign-period 康熙 (1662-1722) in which the people of Jiangnan 江南 and Hunan were taxed on land they did not own — materials of particular significance for economic history.

First published during the late 19th century, it was reprinted by the Saoye Shanzhuang 掃葉山房 publishing house, and has also been included in the series Qingdai biji congkan 清代筆記叢刊 and the Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀. A punctuated and collated edition prepared by Jin Shi 晉石 was published by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局 in 1984.