Xushi bijing 徐氏筆精

Xushi bijing 徐氏筆精, briefly called Bijing 筆精 "Essence of the brush", is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Xu Bo 徐{火+勃} (1563-1639), courtesy name Weiqi 惟起 or Xinggong 興公. He is known for his book catalogue Hongyulou shumu 紅雨樓書目 and a book on lychee, Lizhipu 荔枝譜.

The title Bijing is derived from a term in a rhapsody of Jiang Yan 江淹 (444-505). Xu's Bijing of 8 juan length is divide into five parts that discuss Yi Tong 易通 (Understanding the Yi Jing), Jing Yi 經臆(Interpretations of the Classics), Shi Tan (Discussions on Poetry) 詩談, Wenzi(Philology) 文字, and Zaji (Miscellaneous Notes) 雜記. Xu [the author] was renowned for his erudition in his time. Zhu Yizun 朱彝尊, in his poetic discourses Jingzhiju shihua 靜志居詩話, remarked that Xu’s surviving manuscripts were marked with annotations „in lead and ink“ (施鉛點墨, i.e., preliminary, and final notes), with introductions at the beginning and colophons at the end. The Bijing is rich in collected material and provides valuable resources for textual verification. However, it also contains numerous inconsistencies and contradictions.

The text is found in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Bilinlangguan congshu 碧琳瑯館叢書 and Yuyuan congshu 芋園叢書.