Dijing jingwu lüe 帝京景物略

Dijing jingwu lüe 帝京景物略 "Brief guide to tourist spots in the imperial capital city" was written by the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Liu Tong 劉侗 (1593-1637), courtesy name Tongren 同人, style Ge’an 格庵. He hailed from Macheng 麻城, Hubei, and was a district magistrate (zhixian 知縣). The 8-juan long book, finished in 1635, was compiled with the support of Liu's friend Yu Yizheng 于奕正 (1596-1636), original name Jilu 繼魯, courtesy name Sizhi 司直, from Wanping 宛平 in Beijing, who is sometimes also seen as the second author of the book.

It describes 130 places of interest, like hills and rivulets, bridges and dams, tourist spots (mingsheng 名勝), ancient places (guji 古跡), tomb hills, shrines, certain plants and animals, workshops for porcelain, lacquer and paper, and customs and habits of Beijing. The foremost Buddhist monastery at Mt. Xiangshan 香山, Fragrant Hill Monastery (Xiangshan Si 香山寺) is described in detail, with remarks to its change during the seasons. Other important objects are the sacred sal tree (Bodhi tree, boloshu 婆羅樹) in Reclining Buddha Monastery (Wofo Si 臥佛寺), the Li Garden 李園, or Mi Garden 米園. The book is particularly interesting because it also includes descriptions of private gardens, like Dingguo Gongyuan 定國公園, Yingguo Gongxinyuan 英國公新園, Yingguo Gongyuan 英國公園, Chengguo Gongyuan 成國公園, Yiyuan 宜園, Qushuiyuan 曲水園, Li Huangqin Xinyuan 李皇親新園, Baishizhuang 白石莊, Hui Anbo Yuan 惠安伯園 and Haidian 海淀 (海澱).

The arrangement of the book follows geography and proceeds from central places to such beyond the city wall, with the sequence north, east, south, and west of the imperial city, the western hills, and the metropolitan region (jifu 畿輔). Each chapter ends with some poems (shige 詩歌, zayong 雜詠) and quotations of stone inscriptions (beike 碑刻).

The Dijing jingwu lüe can be seen as a supplement to similar books, like Yanshi 燕史, Wanshu zaji 宛署雜記, Chang'an ketan 長安客話 or Chang'an keyou ji 長安可游記.

Besides this book, the friends Liu and Yu also wrote Nanjing jingwu lüe 南京景物略, which describes places of interest in the secondary capital Nanjing, Jiangsu.

The 1635 print from Nanjing was reproduced as a facsimile in 1980 by the Beijing Guji Press 北京古籍出版社. The first modern edition was published in 1963 by the Beijing Press 北京出版社.