ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature

Soucai yiwen lu 搜採異聞錄

Oct 5, 2025 © Ulrich Theobald

Soucai yiwen lu 搜採異聞錄 "A compendium of curious anecdotes" is a collection of stories compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by a certain Yongheng 永亨, about whom nothing is known.

The book of 5 juan is mainly a plagiarism of Hong Mai's 洪邁 (1123-1202) Rongzhai suibi 容齋隨筆, with the order inverted and rearranged. In the entry concerning the son of Prince Yi of Pu'an 濮安懿王子 and his catalogue of books, even the original author's name was not changed, revealing its true origin. Similarly, in another entry, the phrase "when I was sent on a mission to the Jin state" (yu feng shi Jinguo 余奉使金國) was not removed. Although it is a forgery by Yongheng, the anecdotes and curious stories of the Soucai yiwen lu still have some reference value.

The text is found in the series Baihai 稗海, Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀, Jingxiutang congshu 敬修堂叢書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, and Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. 1996. Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, 1925. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.
Zheng Yunbo 鄭雲波, ed. 1992. Zhongguo gudai xiaoshuo cidian 中國古代小說辭典, 423, 446. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe.