Yi Jian zhi 夷堅志

Yi Jian zhi 夷堅志 "Records of Yi Jian" is a collection of fantastic stories compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123-1202). Another book by Hong Mai is his "brush-notes"-style (biji 筆記) essay collection Rongzhai suibi 容齋隨筆. Hong Mai had always been interested in popular stories, and once started to write them down, according to a sentence in the book Liezi 列子, in which the sage Yi Jian (Yijian) 夷堅 wrote down stories he heard. This is the origin of the book's title.

A book titled Yi Jian lu 夷堅錄 was written during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by Zhang Dunsu 張敦素 (c. 750). It is not listed in Tang- or Song-period book catalogues, but it is mentioned in Wang Dang's 王讜 (c. 1100) Tangyulin 唐語林. Zhao Yushi's 趙與時 (1172-1228) Bintuilu 賓退錄 argues that Hong Mai was inspired by this old book (however, the author is called Zhang Shensu 張慎素 in this source). Another source that mentions a forerunner of Hong's collection is Wang Mingqing's 王明清 (1127-c. 1214) Huichen houlu 揮麈後錄, which gives the Tang-period book the title Yi Jian ji 夷堅集. The Yi Jian lu is long lost, but from Zhang Duanyi's 張端義 (born 1179) Gui'erji 貴耳集, it can be learnt that it had a size of 3 juan.

The original size of Hong Mai's Yi Jian zhi was 420 juan. It is divided into a first series (200 juan) with four parts (Jiazhi 甲志, Yizhi 乙志, Bingzhi 丙志, and Dingzhi 丁志 "Records I-IV"), of which each is divided into ten collections (ji 集; counting jia ji 甲集 to kui ji 癸集). The second series is titled Yi Jian zhizhi 夷堅支志. It consists of ten collections (zhi jia 支甲 to zhi kui 支癸), totalling 100 juan. The rest of Hong's story collection is made up by the third series (san jia 三甲 to san kui 三癸) with 100 juan, and the forth series (si jia 四甲 to si yi 四乙), with a length of 20 juan. Of the second, third, and fourth series, only parts survive (Zhizhi geng 支志庚, Zhizhi kui 支志癸; Sanzhi ji 三志己, Sanzhi xin 三志辛, and Sanzhi ren 三志壬), with a total size of 180 juan. Zhang Yuanji 張元濟 (1867-1959) collected fragments: Yi Jian zhi bu 夷堅補, with 25 juan, and Yi Jian zai bu 夷堅再補, with 1 fascicle. He Zhuo extracted 28 fragments from the Ming-period encyclopaedia Yongle dadian 永樂大典, collected in the Yi Jian sanbu 夷堅三補. Kang Baocheng 康保成 (1986) recovered nine additional items, and Li Yumin 李裕民 (1990) collected more than twenty entries from various books. Thus, roughly half of the Yi Jian zhi still survives.

Although Hong Mai's technique was to record interesting stories he heard from people, he recorded almost all the stories he was presented. Therefore, many of them can be found in other books, where his "suppliers" had read them. Some of the stories were even altered during transmission from mouth to mouth. The content and categories of the stories he recorded are highly miscellaneous. They include fantastic stories, stories of revenge for unjust judgments, stories of immortals and ghosts, of wonderful healers or sorcerers, of loyal and filial ministers, of lecherous monks, traitors, corrupt officials, stories of customs and habits, and so on. The Yi Jian zhi is, therefore, highly heterogeneous, and the stories are not arranged by category. For this reason, the collection was also criticised by scholars such as Zhou Mi 周密 (1232-1298) as being devoid of literary meaning.

The Yi Jian zhi is an important source for the literary world of Song-period China. But the stories are also valuable sources that provide information about everyday life during that period.

The Yi Jian zhi is included in the series Shiwanjuanlou congshu 十萬卷樓叢書, Wanwei biecang 宛委別藏, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 (only partially), Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編. It was printed several times during Hong Mai's lifetime, and numerous manuscripts circulated. It was the book's popularity that made regular transmission impossible, which is why part of the book was lost. The standard edition is the print of the Hanfenlou Studio 涵芬樓 (see Hanfenlou miji 涵芬樓秘笈), which was reprinted in part by the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 in 1981, with annotations by He Zhuo 何卓.

There is a supplement, the Xu yijian zhi 續夷堅志, in 4 juan, compiled by the Jin-period 金 (1115-1234) writer Yuan Haowen 元好問 (1190-1257).

Another supplement was titled Yi Jian biezhi 夷堅別志. It was compiled during the Song period by Wang Zhi 王質 (1135-1189), courtesy name Jingwen 景文. The book with a length of 24 juan is listed among the novellists (xiaoshuojia 小說家) in the bibliographical chapter of the encyclopaedia Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考. Some of the stories had a Buddhist background, while others were inclined to Daoism.

Xu Yi Jian zhi 續夷堅志

Xu yijian zhi 續夷堅志 is a collection of various stories compiled by the Jin-period 金 (1115-1234) writer Yuan Haowen 元好問 (1190-1257), who is known as the author of the poetry collections Zhongzhouji 中州集 and Yishan shiji 遺山詩集 and the essay collections Renchen zabian 壬辰雜編.

The Xu Yi Jian zhi was written as a supplement to the Song-period 宋 (960-1279) collection Yi Jian zhi 夷堅志 by Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123-1202). Yuan's book includes stories that originate in the Jin empire. They were written by the author himself and were not, as in the Yi Jian zhi, products of oral or written accounts.

The 4-juan-long Xu yijian zhi was published in the collection Shilian'an huike jiu Jin ren ji 石蓮庵匯刻九金人集 and is included in the series Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Guang yijian zhi 廣夷堅志

Guang yijian zhi 廣夷堅志 "Extended records of Yi Jian" is a collection of stories that is attributed to the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) collector and publisher Yang Shen 楊慎 (1488-1559).

The 20-juan-long collection includes stories of strange and supernatural events. Many of the tales are largely identical to the stories recorded in the collection Guang zhuoyi ji 廣卓異記 by the Song-period 宋 (960-1279) master Yue Shi 樂史 (930-1007). The title of Yang's book is derived from the collection Yi Jian zhi 夷堅志 by Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123-1202). Its literary quality is only mediocre, and the text includes many errors. The preface was written by Xia Lin 夏林, a secretary of Yang Shen, and dates from 1541.

The collection was presented to the compilation team of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, but was not included in the series.