Kuichezhi 睽車志

Kuichezhi 睽車志 "A carriage of alienation" is a collection of fictional stories compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Guo Tuan 郭彖, courtesy name Guo Boxiang 郭伯象. He hailed from Hezhou 和州 (modern Hexian 和縣, Anhui) and lived during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong 宋孝宗 (r. 1162-1189). He served as the prefect (zhizhou 知州) of the military prefecture of Xinggguo 興國軍.

His book Kuichezhi is mentioned in the book catalogue Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題 (with a length of 5 juan "scrolls") and the bibliographical chapter of the encyclopaedia Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 and that of the official dynastic history Songshi 宋史 (only 1 juan). The received version is arranged in 6 juan. The book primarily covers fantastic stories of a genre known as zhiguai 志怪, which was very popular throughout history. The title of the book is derived from the name of the hexagram kui 睽 "Disunion, Mutual Alienation" in the Classic Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes", where it is said that "there is a carriage full of ghosts" (zai gui yi che 載鬼一車, transl. Legge).

Some of the stories can be dated as having taken place between the Jianyan 建炎 (1127-1130) and the Chunxi 淳熙 (1174-1189) reign-periods of the Southern Song 南宋 (1127-1279). Yet some of the tales are also related to the former capital of the Northern Song 北宋 (960-1126), Bianjing 汴京 (today's Kaifeng 開封, Henan). At the end of each paragraph, a commentary is added, but it is unclear whether this was authored by Guo Tuan himself, or by someone else later. In this arrangement, the Kuichezhi resembles to the book Duyang zabian 杜陽雜編 by the Tang-period 唐 (618-907) writer Su E 蘇鄂.

The Kuichezhi can be found in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Baihai 稗海, Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小書大觀, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編, and, in an abbreviated version, in the Gujin shuohai 古今說海, Shuofu 說郛, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說 and Longwei mishu 龍威秘書.