Jinxiu wanhua gu 錦繡萬花谷

Jinxiu wanhua gu 錦繡萬花谷 "Valley of the ten thousand flowers like embroidered brocades" is an encyclopaedia written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by an unknown author, probably Xiao Zanyuan 蕭贊元 from the time of Emperor Xiao 宋孝宗 (r. 1162-1189), but before 1188.

It is divided in to three parts, namely a first collection (Qianji 前集) of 40 juan, a second collection (Houji 後集) of 40 juan, and a supplementary collection (Xuji 續集) with the same size, making a total of 120 juan. The book catalogue Qianqingtang shumu 千頃堂書目 lists a fourth collection (bieji 別集) of 30 juan (making 150 juan in total). All surviving editions include parts written during the late Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) which are actually additions by later authors.

The first collection is divided into 242 topics, the second collection into 326, the third collection includes chapters to 47 themes, and the fourth collection speaks about 196 themes. Each theme is introduced by a descriptive part and explained by quotations of poetry and prose writings. The arrangement of the themes is not as stringent as in other encyclopaedias, and the vast array of topics makes this encyclopaedia rather a vast ocean of various themes, for which literary sources of different quality are quoted. The Jinxiu wanhua gu is, nevertheless, an excellent source preserving a lot of phrases from books otherwise lost, like Zhilin 職林, Junge yatan 郡閣雅談, Yunlin yijing ji 雲林異景記 or Yayan xishu 雅言系述. This is especially true for the poems quoted at the end of each chapter.

There is a moveable-character print from 1490 by Hua Sui's 華燧 (1439-1513) Huitongguan Studio 會通館, in 100 juan, and a print from the Jiajing reign-period 嘉靖 (1522-1566). The book is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. It has been reprinted in 1969 by the Xinshudian Press 新書店 in Taipeh, as well as in 1991 by the Shanghai Guji Press 上海古籍出版社.