Miscellaneous Histories (zashi lei 雜史類)

The literary type of "miscellaneous" histories (zashi lei 雜史類) is a subcategory to the literary category of historiography (shibu 史部) in traditional bibliographies.

The section of "miscellaneous" histories in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 includes 22 books, and a further amount of 179 is described in the catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao (cunmu 存目 section).

An overview on the history of the bibliographical subcategory zashi is presented farther below.

The term zashi is first used in the imperial bibliography Jingji zhi 經籍志 of the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書. In this catalogue the section includes books like Lu Jia's 陸賈 Chu-Han chunqiu 楚漢春秋, Yuejueshu 越絕書 (called Yuejueji 越絕記, authorship attributed to Confucius's disciple Zigong 子貢) and Wu-Yue chunqiu 吳越春秋, furthermore two books discovered in a tomb in Ji 汲, namely Jizhong Zhoushu 汲冢周書 (later known as the "Bamboo Annals" Zhushu jinian 竹書紀年) and Guwen suoyu 古文瑣語 (also called Jizhong suoyu 汲塚瑣語), and also texts like Chunqiu qianzhuan 春秋前傳 by He Chengtian 何承天 and Chunqiu houzhuan 春秋後傳 by Le Zi 樂資, further the famous Zhanguoce 戰國策 "Stratagems of the Warring States", the biographic collection Hanmo yingxiong ji 漢末英雄記 by Wang Can 王粲, Kong Yan's 孔衍 Wei shangshu 魏尚書 (a title borrowed from the Confucian Classic Shangshu 尚書), Mao Fan's 毛范 book Lü Bu benshi 呂布本事 (Lü Bu 呂布 was a hero of the early Three Empires period 三國, 220~280 CE), Weiguo tong 魏國統 by Liang Zuo 梁祚, Liangdi ji 梁帝紀 (anonymous), Qifeng chunqiu 棲鳳春秋 by Zang Yan 臧嚴, Houhan lüe 後漢略 by Zhang Mian 張緬, Huangfu Mi's 皇甫謐 Diwang shiji 帝王世紀, the collection Shiyilu 拾遺錄 by Wang Zinian 王子年 (later known as Wang Zinian Shiyiji 王子年拾遺記, as a version revised by Xiao Qi 蕭綺), and the draft to the official history Suishu.

It is said in the Suishu bibliography that these books were not as valuable as the Classic Chunqiu 春秋 or the histories Shiji 史記 and Hanshu 漢書. After the downfall of the Han dynasty 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) writers began to privately compile history books. Unlike the official histories, these books did not rely on archival sources or official documents. They were often based on own observation and on hearsay (wenjian 聞見), and often enough on stories told in the streets (wei xiang zhi shuo 委巷之說), and were therefore less reliable (yu guai wang dan, zhen xu mo ce 迂怪妄誕，真虛莫測 "strange exaggerations not discerning between fact and fiction") than the official dynastic histories. Such texts were nevertheless of a certain value because they recorded the history of rulers and their times.

The compilers of the descriptive catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 remark that the genre of "miscellaneous" histories did not rely on a single type or arrangement nor on a fix terminology for the names of their books. Inspite of many shortcomings "miscellaneous" histories were still scholarly texts, and not pure fiction (xiaoshuo 小說).

In contrast to the official dynastic histories, miscellaneous histories are chronicles or descriptions of events of a defined affair or circumstance, be it politics at the court, military matters, diplomatic missions or private observations. Many books of this type are similar to the "historical events in their entirety" and narrate individual topics, rather than the whole history of one period.

The bibliographic chapter in the alternative history Tongzhi includes the following important books in the "miscellaneous" histories section (except those mentioned above): Chaoye qianzai 朝野僉載 by Zhang Zhuo 張鷟 (later classified as a xiaoshuo tale), (Da-)Tang chuangye qijuzhu (大)唐創業起居注 by Wen Daya 溫大雅 (often classified as a chronicle), Zhenguan zhengyao 貞觀政要 by Wu Jing 吳兢, Minghuang zalu 明皇雜錄 by Zheng Chuhui 鄭處誨 (tales of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang, later classified as a xiaoshuo), 大唐新語 by Liu Su 劉肅 (later a xiaoshuo-type book), Guoshibu 國史補 (i.e. Tangguo shibu 唐國史補) by Li Zhao 李肇 (later a xiaoshuo-type book), Queshi 闕史 by Gao Yanxiu 高彦休 (later a -type book), Fengshi jianwen ji 封氏見聞記 by Feng Yan 封演, Ci Liushi jiuwen 次柳氏舊聞 by Li Deyu 李德裕 (later a xiaoshuo-type book), Nanchu xinwen 南楚新聞 by Yuchi Shu 尉遲樞 (later a xiaoshuo-type book), Wudai shibu 五代史補 by Tao Yue 陶岳, Beimeng suoyan 北夢瑣言 by Sun Guangxian 孫光憲 (later a xiaoshuo-type book), Sanchao shengzheng lu 三朝聖政錄 by Shi Jie 石介, Sanchao shengzheng lüe 三朝聖政略 (anonymous), Sanchao baoxun 三朝寳訓 by Lü Yijian 呂夷簡, Renzong zhengyao 仁宗政要 (anonymous), Songchao shishi 宋朝事實 by Shen You 沈攸, Taiping shengdian 太平盛典 (anonymous), Huangyou pingman ji 皇祐平蠻記 by Feng Bing 馮炳, Zhengnanlu 征南錄 by Teng Fu 滕甫, Zhengmanlu 征蠻錄 by Lü Shu 呂璹 and Pingyanlu 平燕錄 (anonymous).

It can be seen that very different types of book are assembled in this subcategory. Some texts are unmistakably deriving from non-official sources (ye 野 "wild"), or even report "hearsay" (wen 聞) or admit to be mere "petty talks" (yu 語, suoyan 瑣言). On the other hand, there are some books to be used as "supplements" (bu 補) to official histories or give accounts of "important political matters" (zhengyao 政要).

Such titles, or those as "serious account" (shishi 事實), "sacred rule" (shengzheng 聖政), "precious instructions" (baoxun 寳訓) or "canon of imperial favours" (shengdian 盛典) pretend that the reader might consult them like official collections of edicts or jurisdictional or administrative instructions. The last few titles of the above listing are books on military campaigns, which seems to be a very important section in the subcategory of "miscellaneous" histories.

Earlier catalogues like that in the Xintangshu 新唐書 also include ancient chronologies in this subcategory, like Xu Zheng's 徐整 Tongli 通曆 or Tao Hongjing's 陶弘景 Diwang nianli 帝王年曆.