Wuyue youcao 五嶽遊草

Wuyue youcao 五嶽遊草 "Draft notes on travels to the Five Great Mountains" is a geographical essay written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Wang Shixing 王士性 (1546–1598), who also authored the Guangzhiyi 廣志繹. As a supervising secretar in the Ministry of Rites (like jishizhong 禮科給事中), he journeyed to Mount Tai 岱嶽 (Taishan 泰山), Mount Hua 華嶽 (Huashan 華山), and Mount Heng 恒嶽 (Hengshan 恆山). During an expedition to the southern provinces, he visited Mount Heng 衡嶽 (Hengshan 衡山) in Hunan. Throughout his journeys across ten prefectures, he recorded each major mountain and river he encountered with both illustrations and poems.

This compilation includes those illustrations and poems. It is organised into seven juan of illustrations with notes (Tuji 圖記), three juan of poems (Shi 詩), and two fascicles of miscellaneous records (Zazhi 雜志). The last is sometimes published separately under the title Guangyouji 廣游記. Despite its title, the Wuyue youcao covers more than just the "Five Mountains".

A printed edition was published during the Wanli reign-era 萬曆 (1573-1619). In the book catalogue Mingshi Yiwen zhi bubuan 明史藝文志補編, it is listed as Wuyue yougao 五嶽游稿. In 1914, the Guangyi Shuju 廣益書局 included the text into the series Gujin wenyi congshu 古今文藝叢書.