Sui-Tang jiahua 隋唐嘉話

Sui-Tang jiahua 隋唐嘉話 "Fine stories from the Sui and Tang dynasties" is a "brush-notes"-style (biji 筆記) collection of stories written during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by Liu Su 劉餗 (c. 750), courtesy name Dingqing 鼎卿. He haield from Pengcheng 彭城 (modern Xuzhou 徐州, Jiangsu) and was the son of the historian Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661-721), author of the famous historical critique Shitong 史通.

The Sui-Tang jiahua assembles stories from the Southern and Northern Dynasties 南北朝 (300~600) and the Sui period 隋 (581-618) until the Kaiyuan reign-period 開元 (713-741) of the Tang dynasty.

The stories are not included in official histories. Most of them date from the time of Emperor Taizong 唐太宗 (r. 626-649) of the Tang and of Empress Wu 武則天 (r. 690-704). Despite its novelistic character, the book served as a source for the official dynastic histories Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and Xintangshu 新唐書 and the universal history Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑒. It also provides information on poets and writers like Xue Daoheng 薛道衡 (540-609) and Song Zhiwen 宋之問 (c. 656-712), or performing artists like Gao Qidai 高齊代 and Tayao Niang 踏搖娘.

Liu Su also wrote a biographical collection called Guochao zhuanji 國朝傳記 or Guoshi yizuan 國史異纂, which is unfortunately lost except for a few fragments that are to be found in the Sui-Tang jiahua. It is therefore possible that these two titles were alternative titles for this book.

In 1979, the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published a modern version, based on the version in the collection Gushi wenfang xiaoshuo 顧氏文房小說.