Chenyuan shilüe 宸垣識略

Chenyuan shilüe 宸垣識略 "Brief notes on the imperial precincts" is a book on the imperial city of Beijing compiled during the high Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Wu Chengyuan 吳長元, courtesy name Taichu 太初, from Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang.

The book of 16 juan was finished in 1788. It was compiled, through selection, addition, deletion, and textual verification, on the basis of the books Rixia jiuwen kao 日下舊聞考, Rixia jiuwen 日下舊聞, Chuogenglu 輟耕錄, Yuanshi yeting guangji 元氏掖庭廣記, Gugong yilu 故宮遺錄, Wanli yehou bian 萬曆野獲編 and Chunming mengyu lu 春明夢餘錄. The entire text is arranged into eleven categories according to the relative richness or brevity of each topic, providing details of astronomy, topography, waterworks, and city establishment (1 Tianwen, xingshi, shuili, jianzhi 天文、形勝、水利、建置), the Inner Palaces (2 Danei 大內), the Imperial City (3-4 Huangcheng 皇城), the Inner City (5-8 Neicheng 內城), the Outer City (9-10 Waicheng 外城), the imperial parks (11 Yuanyou 苑囿), the suburban areas (12-15 Jiaoxiong 郊坰), and miscellaneous issues (16 Shiyu 識餘).

The text first provides a concise account of Beijing's astronomy, climate, geography, and waterway systems, offering a relatively broad overview of the city's natural conditions, landscape, and human settlements, providing a fairly complete depiction of Beijing as a whole.

The oldest print of 1788 was reproduced in 1876. In 1964, the Beijing Chubanshe 北京出版社 published a modern edition, followed by the Beijing Guji Chubanshe 北京古籍出版社 in 1983.