Yuan Li er zai 原李耳載

Yuan Li er zai 原李耳載 "Notes on what Li's ears heard of" (not a reference to Li Er 李耳, i.e., Laozi 老子) is a "brush-notes"-style collection (biji 筆記) of stories written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Li Zhongfu 李中馥, courtesy name Fengshi 鳳石, of Taiyuan 太原 in Shanxi. He obtained the juren degree in 1624 but never held office throughout his life. The book was arranged into two volumes by his great-grandson, Li Qingfang 李青房. The extant edition is a block-printed version from 1767, produced by Shensi Hall 慎思堂.

The work primarily documents the political institutions, economic conditions, and social customs of Taiyuan 太原 in Shanxi and its surrounding regions during the late Ming and early Qing 清 (1644-1911) periods. It covers major historical events, including the Li Zicheng 李自成 (1606-1645) rebellion and the mutiny of Jiang Xiang 姜瓖 (d. 1649).

The first fascicle includes sections documenting popular uprisings triggered by reforms to the taxation system (Liang zheng bense 糧徵本色), as well as the family anecdote of Wang Shu 王恕, who used the act of "pointing to cellars" to discourage corruption within his household (Zhi ku zhi tan 指窖止貪). The second fascicle contains accounts of strange tales and religious legends from popular culture, including auspicious signs said to be granted by the Buddha, such as a story in which, after the martyrdom of the Yang Huang 楊璜 (c. 1650) family, a girl was transformed into a male infant, and supernatural anecdotes such as that of a sorceress in Shu 蜀 (Sichuan) who spread her skirt to cross a river.

In 1987, the Zhonghua Book Company 中華書局 published this work together with the Xianbobian 賢博編 and Yuejianbian 粤劍編 in the series Yuan-Ming shiliao biji congkan 元明史料筆記叢刊.