Gu Hang zaji 古杭雜記

Gu Hang zaji 古杭雜記 "Miscellaneous Records of Old Hangzhou" is a collection of stories about Hangzhou 杭州 (modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang, in that time called Lin'an 臨安), the capital of the Southern Song dynasty 南宋 (1127-1279), compiled during the early decades of the Yuan period. The name of the author is unclear, but some sources name Li You 李有, courtesy name Li Tingxian 李聽賢, in whose collected writings such a text does not appear, so that his authorship can not be established with certainty. The 4 juan "scrolls" long book is listed in the bibliographies Qianqingtang shumu 千頃堂書目, Jiao Hong's 焦竑 Guoshi jingji zhi 國史經籍志 (Ming period) and in the bibliographic chapter of Jin Menzhao's 金門詔 Bu sanshi 補三史 (Bu Sanshi Yiwen zhi 補三史藝文志), a supplement to the histories Liaoshi 遼史, Jinshi 金史 and Yuanshi 元史. The descriptive bibliography Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 calls the book Gu Hang zaji shiji 古杭雜記詩集 "Collected Poems and ..." because the text is partially written in the same style as the collection Benshishi 本事詩, in which historical facts are narrated in the shape of poems. The book includes 49 stories the greates part of which dates from the time of the emperors Lizong 宋理宗 (r. 1224-1264) and Duzong 宋度宗 (r. 1264-1274) of the Song dynasty. Many are of a humoristic characer and VERSPOTTEn the influential counsellors Jia Sidao 賈似道 and Han Zhuozhou 韓侂胄, others are concerned with the daily life of the local population, and other are poems about local mountains, landscapes, halls or monasteries.
The Gu Hang zaji is to be found in the reprint series Gujin shuohai 古今說海, Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史, Shuofu 說郛, Xuehai leibian 學海類編, Wulin zhanggu congbian 武林掌故叢編 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編. In 1984 the Zhejiang renmin press 浙江人民出版社 published a critical edition in Hong Huanchun's 洪煥椿 series Zhejiang fangzhi kao 浙江方志考.