Shengshui yantan lu 澠水燕談錄

Shengshui yantan lu 澠水燕談錄 "Banquet Talks from River Sheng", also called Shengshui yantan 澠水燕談, is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) by Wang Pizhi 王闢之 (1031-?, also erroneously written Wang Guanzhi 王關之 or Wang Pizhi 王辟之), courtesy name Shengtu 聖涂. He hailed from Qingzhou 青州 (today's Linzi 臨淄, Shandong) and served for many years as an official first on the district, then on the prefectural level, like governor (taishou 太守) of the commandery of Zhongzhou 忠州. When he retired, he settled down on the banks of the River Sheng 澠水.

His 10-juan-long book was finished in 1095. It included, in the original version, 360 stories, of which a few are lost (but with a supplement of 23 stories). The book is divided into 17 chapters. The stories speak about the virtue of emperors, court factions, famous ministers, wise people, loyal and filial persons, talents, persons of a high moral conduct, the system of state offices, of state examinations, the lives of the Confucian scholars, diviners, writers, painters and calligraphers, and ends with jokes and miscellaneous matters. The collection is important because it contains information on important persons of the time that are not to be found in other sources.

The Shengshui yantan lu is to be found in the series Baihai 稗海, Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說, Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀 and Congshu jicheng 叢書集成. In 1981, the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published a modern edition with annotations by Lü Youren 呂友仁, in a joint edition with Ouyang Xiu's 歐陽修 (1007-1072) Guitianlu 歸田錄.