Nanjiang yishi 南疆繹史

Nanjiang yishi 南疆繹史 "Unravelled history of the southern borderlands" is a privately written history on the Southern Ming dynasty 南明 (1644-1661). The book is based on Wen Lingyi's 溫令貽 (Wen Junlin 温睿臨) Nanjiang yishi 南疆逸史 that was compiled around 1700 but forbidden during the Qianlong reign-period 乾隆 (1736-1796). Wen's book is described in the imperial book catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要).

In 1830 Li Yao 李瑤 obtained a manuscript copy of the book and revised the text. His edition is 58-juan long (in contrast to the former 20 juan) and has the shape of an official dynastic history, with specific types of chapters for different purposes, namely imperial annals (Jilüe 紀略, 6 juan), individual and collective biographies (Liezhuan 列傳, 24 juan), "picked-up leftovers" (Zheyi 摭遺, 18 juan), and biographies of persons giving their lives for the Ming dynasty (Xuyi kao 卹諡考, 8 juan). In an edition from the Guangxu reign-period 光緒 (1875-1908), with a the original preface of Wen Lingyi was eliminated. The change of the title from yi 逸 "remainders" to yi 繹 "unravelled" was made to express that Li Yao used a wide range of additional sources to "unravel" the reports found there.