Qiaoxiang xiaoji 樵香小記

Qiaoxiang xiaoji 樵香小記 "Petty records from the woodcutter's incense sticks" is a "brush-notes" style book (biji 筆記) of 2 juan length written during the high Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by He Xiu 何琇, courtesy name Junzhuo 君琢, style Li'an 厲庵, from Wanping 宛平 (today part of Beijing). He obtained the jinshi degree during the Yongzheng reign-period 雍正 (1723-1735) and was a secretary in the Court of the Imperial Clan (zongrenfu zhushi 宗人府主事).

The book primarily consists of textual research and contains 120 entries. Most of its content discusses interpretations of the Classics, followed by topics related to lexicography (xiaoxue 小學), including the study of Chinese characters and their phonology. In particular, the book examines the six types of characters (liushu 六書) and presents viewpoints that differ from traditional explanations. For example, it argues that the character tu 禿 "bald, bare" should be understood as a semantic-phonetic compound with he 禾 "grain" as the radical (and not he lower part 儿, signifying a person). Similarly, it explains that the character she 射 "to shoot" is derived from an ancient script where it consists of shen 身 "body" and cun 寸 "inch; grip", resembling the shape of a hand holding a bow - an original interpretation contradicting the interpretation of the Shuowen jiezi 說文解字, which derives the character 射 from 身 and shi 矢 "arrow".

The book also includes a collection titled Xuewen dazhi 學問大旨 "Essentials of learning", which follows the intellectual traditions of scholars such as Yan Ruoqu 閻若據 (1636-1704), Gu Yanwu 顧炎武 (1613-1682), Zhu Yizun 朱彝尊 (1629-1709), and Mao Qiling 毛奇齡 (1623-1716).

The text is included in the series Shoushange congshu 守山閣叢書, Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺 and Siku quanshu 四書全書.