Jingguan suoyan 井觀瑣言

Jingguan suoyan 井觀瑣言 "Blinkered gossip" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Zheng Yuan 鄭瑗, courtesy name Zhongbi 仲璧, from Putian 莆田, Fujian. The series Tang-Song congshu 唐宋叢書 holds that the author lived during the Song period 宋 (960-1279), but the book's statements about personalities from the early Ming show that it must have been compiled much later. Zheng Yuan is mentioned in the local gazetteer Bamin tongzhi 八閩通志 from the Hongzhi reign-period 弘治 (1488-1505). Zheng Yuan as a Ming-period person is also mentioned in Zhu Yizun's 朱彝尊 (1629-1709) Mingshizong 明詩綜, as the author of the collected works Mingshengzhai ji 名省齋集. Zheng received the jinshi degree in 1481 and was a director in the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing (Nanjing libu langzhong 南京禮部郎中). He also wrote the book Tiaoxiao youyan 蜩笑偶言.

The content of this book of 3 juan length mainly consists of the author's reading notes. The book's title is derived from a sentence in Han Yu's 韓愈 (768-824) Yuandao 原道, referencing the metaphor of "sitting at the bottom of a well to look at the sky". The book investigates historical facts and offers critiques of ancient and contemporary scholarship, often making original and insightful contributions. For instance, Zheng criticizes Wang Bai's 王柏 (1197-1274) erroneous revisions of the Classics, rejects strained interpretations found in the Zizhi tongjian gangmu 資治通鑒綱目 and stylistic theories on textual variation, points out errors in Li Kuangyi's 李匡乂 (c. 900) Zixiaji 資暇集 regarding legal codes, and refutes contradictions in Shi Boxuan's 史伯璿 (1299-1354) Guankui waibian 管窺外編 concerning cosmological theories. He also highlights omissions in Hu Sanxing's 胡三省 (1230–1302) annotations to the Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑒, all with well-reasoned arguments.

Among Ming-dynasty works of anecdotal and critical literature, Zheng's book stands out as a high-quality example. However, his discussion of chronological conventions in historical texts reveals a degree of bias.

The text is included in the series Baoyantang miji 寶顏堂秘笈, Xuehai leibian 學海類編, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編, Tang-Song congshu and Jinxian huiyan 今獻彙言.