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Songchuang baishuo 松窗百說

Aug 16, 2025 © Ulrich Theobald

Songchuang baishuo 松窗百說 "A hundred tales from Pine Window" is a collection of stories and notes written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Li Jike 李季可 (dates unknown).

This book selects relevant entries from the Classics, historical records, and legends, accompanied by the author's own commentary and textual verification. It holds certain reference value for the study of historical matters. For example, concerning the entry titled "Historical errors" (Shiwu 史誤) the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Sun Yirang 孫詒讓 (1848-1908) praised it as "sufficient to help correct the history of the Five Dynasties" 五代 (907-960). Additionally, some entries such as "King Wen did not govern the Shang" (Wenweng bu ling Shang zheng 文王不領商政), "Zhuge Liang fulfilled his duty as a minister" (Kongming jin chen dao 孔明盡臣道), "Youruo resembled Confucius" (Youruo si Kongzi 有若似孔子), and "Cao Cao's declaration was deceptive" (Wei Wu xuanyan qiren 魏武宣言欺人) represent statements aligned with the so-called "civilizing" rhetoric of feudal orthodoxy. The book also strongly condemns the harms caused by consuming metallic and mineral-based medicinal substances (jin shi yaowu 金石藥物).

The text is included in the series Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書.

Sources:
Du Chunlin 杜春雷. 2018. "Songchuang baishuo zuozhe kao 《松窗百说》作者考." Jiang-hai xuekan 江海学刊 2018 (3): 189.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, and Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. 1996. Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, 1962. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.