Gufuyuting zalu 古夫于亭雜錄

Gufuyuting zalu 古夫于亭雜錄 is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Wang Shizhen 王士禎 (1634-1711). The book's title is derived from a pavilion on Yuzi Hill 魚子山 close to Wang's living place. The work of 6 juan length was written in his last years and does not follow a fixed format or structure, nor does it observe any clear order or hierarchy.

The author relies, for instance, on the Xijing zaji 西京雜記 to dispute the official account regarding Lady Gouyi 鉤弋夫人 (113-88 BCE), the mother of Emperor Zhao 漢昭帝 (r. 87-74 BCE), but this is based on a spurious text. He cites the Gui'erji 貴耳集 to claim that Wang Anshi 王安石 was a descendant of Zhao Tingmei 趙廷美 (947-984), the Prince of Qin 秦, which is an uncritical acceptance of fictional writing. He references the Yijing 易經 (hexagram Dayou 大有) to interpret a phrase in the Lunyu 論語 saying "I [Confucius] venture to compare myself with old Peng" (i.e., Peng Zu 彭祖; qie bi lao Peng 竊比老彭), explaining Peng 彭 as pang 旁 "beside", which is a forced reading of the Classics. He also mistakenly identifies Zhang Wei 張為 as a man of Southern Tang 南唐 (937-975) and Yu Wenbao 俞文豹 (12th cent.) as a Yuan-period 元 (1279-1368) figure — both are errors in verification.

On the other hand, he correctly argues that the epitaph of Liu Biao 劉表碑 was not written by Cai Yong 蔡邕 (132-192); he distinguishes between the ancient and modern uses of tiehuang 貼黃, a type of annotation in official documents; he corrects errors in attributions of Su Shi's 蘇軾 (1037-1101) lyrics found in the Danqianlu 丹鉛錄, and so on.

The work also includes topics such as institutions and customs of successive dynasties, anecdotes about literary figures, critiques of poetry and prose, and tales of the strange and supernatural. It leans more heavily toward commentary and textual verification, offering fresh interpretations of old stories. Other articles of the Gufuyuting zalu preserve valuable historical material on the Qing literary scene and are of significant reference value.

The text is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Xiaoyuan congshu 嘯園叢書. A modern, punctuated edition was published in 1988 by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局.