Guangdong xinyu 廣東新語

Guangdong xinyu 廣東新語 "New discourses on Guangdong" is a geographical miscellany compiled during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Qu Dajun 屈大均 (1630–1696), original name Shaolong 紹隆, courtesy name Wengshan 翁山 or Jiezi 介子, style Caipu 菜圃. He was a native of Panyu 番禺, Guangdong. When Qing forces captured Guangzhou, he took refuge in Buddhist monastic life, wandered north and south, and formed friendships with renowned scholars throughout the realm. This book was completed in Qu's later years.

It opens with a preface by Pan Lei 潘耒 (1646-1708), then proceeds through twenty-eight thematic sections (yu 語, "discourses"): Heaven, Earth, Mountains, Waters, Stones, Spirits, People, Women, Affairs, Learning, Literature, Poetry, Arts, Food, Goods, Implements, Palaces, Boats, Tombs, Birds, Beasts, Scaled Creatures, Shelled Creatures, Insects, Trees, Aromatics, Plants, and Curiosities. The work encompasses the fields astronomy, geography, economic products, notable persons, and local customs of Guangdong.

Three parts in ten are drawn from the official local gazetteer Guangdong tongzhi 廣東通志, while the other seven parts are newly added material — hence the book's name, xinyu "new discourses." The section on Heaven covers typhoons (jufeng 颶風), seasonal winds, thunderstorms, winter thunder, subterranean thunder, thunder-plowing, clouds, rain, and similar phenomena. The Earth section covers includes a chapter on Macao (Aomen 澳門). In the chapter on scaled creatures, the accounts of dragons, stone dragons, golden dragons, earth dragons, and sea mirages are frankly fantastical. The book also records are thirty-five species of insects, eleven varieties of aromatics, and notably detailed treatments of trees and plants, comprising seventy-three and eighty-three species respectively. These constitute valuable records of natural resources and environmental data for the region.

The work may rightly be called an "unofficial gazetteer" of Guangdong, supplying what the official comprehensive gazetteers lack. In "examining the geography and consulting the local records", and especially in "verifying through personal experience and confirming through direct observation", the data on local products, folk customs, and related matters is comparatively rich and thorough.

Extant editions include the original woodblock edition printed at the Mutian Pavilion 木天閣 in 1700; a reprint from the Qianlong reign-period; and a typeset edition published by Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局 in 1985. Because the work was placed on the list of "books banned and to be destroyed" in the 18th century, surviving copies are extremely rare. In 1992, Guangdong Renmin Chubanshe 廣東人民出版社 further published an annotated edition.