Da-Tang chuanzai 大唐傳載

Da-Tang chuanzai 大唐傳載 "Transmitted records of the Great Tang" is a collection of stories compiled during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by an unknown person. It is not recorded in the bibliographical chapters of the official dynastic histories of the Tang and Song 宋 (960-1279) dynasties, but it is included in the descriptive bibliography Siku quanshu zongmu tiao 四庫全書總目提要. At the beginning of the book is a short preface written by the author himself, though it does not give his name.

The contents of the 1-fascicle-book document events from the early Tang dynasty up to the Yuanhe reign-era 元和 (806-821), comprising a total of 130 entries. It records the words and actions of renowned ministers and the activities of high officials in considerable detail, and many of these accounts were later incorporated into official historical works. However, the text also includes humorous remarks, witty anecdotes, and miscellaneous stories from both court and common society. These sometimes differ from or even contradict the accounts in standard histories, and the reasons for such discrepancies can no longer be determined.

Some passages in the book overlap with other texts, and there are occasional errors. For example, it claims that during the Zhenyuan reign-period 貞元 (785-804), the posthumous titles granted to the Princesses of Zheng 鄭國 and Han 韓國 marked the beginning of conferring posthumous titles on princesses. In fact, this is incorrect, as Princess Pingyang 平陽昭公主 (590-623), daughter of Emperor Gaozu 唐高祖 (r. 618-626), had already received a posthumous title earlier.

The text is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Tangren shuohui 唐人說薈, Tangdai congshu 唐代叢書, Shoushange congshu 守山閣叢書 and Shuoku 說庫. In 1958, the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published it in a modern, annotated edition, alongside the books Youxian guchui 幽閑鼓吹 and Zhongchao gushi 中朝故事.