Gengsibian 庚巳編

Gengsibian 庚巳編 "Notes of the year gengsi" (see ganzhi signs) is a collection of stories compiled during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Lu Can 陸粲 (1494-1553), courtesy name Ziyu 子余, from Changzhou 長洲 (today part of Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu). He obtained the jinshi degree in 1526, entered the Hanlin Academy's literary bureau (Hanlin ciguany 翰林詞館) and was appointed as a Supervising Secretary in the Ministry of Works (gongke jishizhong 工科給事中). Later, because of his frank remonstrations, he was punished and exiled to a frontier garrison. He was eventually reassigned as magistrate of Yongxin 永新.

While the book catalogues Qianqingtang shumu 千頃堂書目 and Guoshi jingji zhi 國史經籍志 and the bibliographical chapter Yiwen zhi 藝文志 in the official dynastic history Mingshi 明史 speak of 10 juan of length, the transmitted version is arranged in 4 juan.

This book is entirely devoted to strange and bizarre tales, such as "raising dragons" (huan long 豢龍) and the Three-Legged Turtle (sanzu bie 三足鱉). The story Wang Quan 王全 tells of a man who turns into a toad, while the "Case of the Human Monster" (Renyao gong'an 人妖公案) recounts a demon-like man who disguises himself as a woman and sexually exploits 182 women.

The text can be found in the series Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編, Jilu huibian 紀錄彙編, Yanxia xiaoshuo 煙霞小說, Gujin shuobu congshu 古今說部叢書, Shuoku 說庫, Gujin mingxian huiyu 古今名賢彙語, Xu shuofu 續說郛 and Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說 (the last two only in excerpts).