Ci Liushi jiuwen 次柳氏舊聞

Ci Liushi jiuwen 次柳氏舊聞 "Old Tales According to Master Liu" is a book written during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by Li Deyu 李德裕 (787-849), courtesy name Wenrao 文饒.

He hailed from Zhaojun 趙郡 (modern Zhaoxian 趙縣, Hebei) and was a son of the Counsellor Li Jifu 李吉甫 (758-814). He was therefore appointed to the post of editor for the imperial diary (jiaoshulang 校書郎). He then rose to the post of academician (xueshi 學士) in the Hanlin Academy 翰林院, was then surveillance commissioner (guanchashi 觀察史) of Zhexi 浙西 and finally military commissioner (jiedushi 節度使) of Xichuan 西川. During the reign of Emperor Wuzong 唐武宗 (r. 840-846), he was appointed Counsellor-in-chief and held this post for six years. He was pretty successful in suppressing the eunuch clique at the court and in curtailing the power of the regional commanders (fanzhen 藩鎮) of the provinces. He also launched a military campaign against the Uyghurs 回紇 in the west. For these successes, he was given the honourific title of Commander-in-chief (taiwei 太尉) and was invested as Duke of Wei 衛國公, for which reason he is also known as Li Weigong 李衛公. Li Deyu was a famous poet and has written the collection Huichang yipin ji 會昌一品集.

The short book Ci Liushi jiuwen is also known by the title Minghuang shiqi shi 明皇十七事, meaning "Seventeen Stories of Emperor Ming," because it concentrates on the history of Emperor Ming 明皇, who is more widely recognised as Emperor Xuanzong 唐玄宗 (r. 712-755). He is most famous for fleeing into Shu 蜀 (Sichuan) during An Lushan's 安祿山 (703-757) rebellion and for his everlasting love for his concubine Yang Guifei 楊貴妃 (719-756). In the preface, the author mentions that the stories were initially penned by the historiographer Liu Fang 柳芳 (fl. 760), who served as a secretary (sheren 舍人) to General Gao Lishi 高力士 (690-762). The former's son, Liu Mian 柳冕 (died 804), recounted these stories to Counsellor Li Jifu, who then passed them on to his son. Many of the stories in the Ci Liushi jiuwen are identical to Zheng Chuhui's 鄭處誨 (jinshi degree 834) Minghuang zalu 明皇雜錄, but numerous entries also contain fictional elements and stories of supernatural phenomena, which lessen the historical reliability of the book.

The Ci Liushi jiuwen is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Gushi wenfang xiaoshuo 顧氏文房小說, Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史, Baoyantang miji 寶顏堂秘笈, Shuofu 說郛, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說, Gujin shuobu congshu 古今說部叢書 and Congshu jicheng 叢書集成. It appears under the title Minghuang shiqi shi in the reprint series Baicheng 稗乘, Xuehai leibian 學海類編 and Guang sishijia xiaoshuo 廣四十家小說, and as a small excerpt in the collections Tang Kaiyuan xiaoshuo liu zhong 唐開元小說六種 and Xiyuan xiansheng quanshu 郋園先生叢書. In 1985, the Shanghai Guji Press 上海古籍出版社 published a modern edition in the series Kaiyuan Tianbao yishi shizhong 開元天寶遺事十種, with annotations by Ding Ruming 丁如明.