Yimen dushu ji 義門讀書記

Yimen dushu ji 義門讀書記 "Records while reading books at the Gate of Righteousness" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the early Qing period by He Zhuo 何焯 (1661－1722), courtesy name Runqian 潤千 or Qizhan 屺瞻, style Chaxian 茶仙 or Yimen Xiansheng 義門先生, from Changzhou 長洲 (today part of Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu). His ancestors were honored with a banner for their righteous deeds (yi yi xing jing qi men 以義行旌其門), so He Zhuo named his study hall after this legacy.

On recommendation by Li Guangdi 李光地 (1642-1718), he was in 1702 granted a scholarship as a tribute student (gongsheng 貢生) and was soon awarded the title of jinshi by grace. Later on, he was given the post of auxiliary in the Southern Study (zhi nanshufang 直南書房), and then directly an editor in the Hanlin Academy 翰林院.

The Yimen dushu ji with a length of 58 juan was compiled by He's disciple Jiang Weijun 蔣維鈞. It includes critical studies on the Classics, history books and the collected writings of eminent scholars like Han Yu 韓愈 (768-824), Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 (773-819), Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072) and Zeng Gong 曾鞏 (1019—1083). For his studies, He collected original texts with quotations in other books, and corrected mistakes in transmitted versions. The book is dedicated to textual verification and correction, uncovering the profound meanings of past sages and elucidating subtle, previously unrecognised expressions. Every character and stroke is examined with utmost precision and detail.

In 1740, an extract of the book focusing on the Hanshu 漢書, Houhanshu 後漢書 and Sanguozhi 三國志 was published by Fang Bao 方苞 (1668-1749). The known book was printed in 1769. The text is found in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.