Liunan suibi 柳南隨筆

Liunan suibi 柳南隨筆 "Random jottings from south of the willows" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the high Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Wang Yingkui 王應奎 (1684-c. 1759), courtesy name Dongshu 東淑, a native of Zhaowen 昭文 (present-day Changshu 常熟, Jiangsu). His other works include Liunan shiwen chao 柳南詩文鈔 and Haiyu shiyuan 海虞詩苑.

Liunan suibi, in 6 juan, records observations and anecdotes from both official and private life from the late Ming 明 (1368-1644) to the early Qing, with particular emphasis on trivial anecdotes and curious stories surrounding contemporary literati. The work also includes textual criticism and commentary on earlier writings and poetry. For example, in fascicle 5, the author examines a remark in the poetry critique Yuyang shihua 漁洋詩話 concerning verses of the Ming poet Cheng Songyuan 程松圓 (1565-1643), which read, "At Guabu River the waters lie empty, with only a few trees; / Beyond Moling the sky stretches far, unsuited to autumn." (Guabu jiang kong wei you shu, Moling tian yuan bu yi qiu 瓜步江空微有樹，秣陵天遠不宜秋). Wang points out that these lines were originally written by the Tang 唐 (618-907) poet Dai Shulun 戴叔倫 (732-789), and that Cheng merely replaced some of the original words.

The contents may be broadly divided into two categories. The first comprises reading notes and textual observations, covering the Classics, histories, philosophical writings, literary collections, poetry, song lyrics, drama, painting, philology, and phonology. The work corrects errors in historical records and provides important clues for literary and historical research. The second category records personal observations and hearsay, much of it concerning social customs and local manners.

The book also touches on historical matters relating to famous scholars and associations such as the Tongsheng Society 同聲社, the Fushe Society 復社, the Yingshe Society 應社, and the Donglin Faction 東林黨. In addition, it includes information on the book collections of institutions and libraries such as Donghu Academy 東湖書院, the Wanjuanlou 萬卷樓, Jiangxuelou 絳雪樓, and Shugutang 述古堂 Studios. The contemporary anecdotes preserved in the book possess a certain value as historical source material.

The original was published in 1740. In 1983, the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局 included a punctuated and annotated edition of the Liunan suibi in the series Qingdai biji shiliao congkan 清代筆記史料叢刊.