Guozi 郭子

Guozi 郭子 "Master Guo" is an early collection of stories written during the Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420~589) by Guo Chengzhi 郭澄之. Guo Chengzhi, courtesy name Zhongjing 仲靜, who hailed from Yangqu 陽曲 (modern Yangqu, Shanxi). He served as an attendant (congshi zhonglang 從事中郎) of the chief counsellor of Emperor Wu 宋武帝 (r. 420-422) of the Liu-Song dynasty 劉宋 (420-479). He was given the title of Marquis of Nanfeng 南豐侯.

The 1-juan-long Guozi includes stories about and discussion between members of the upper class during the Jin period 晉 (265-420). Although not particularly strong in literary terms, the Guozi is a type of historiographical document and also an example of the semi-historical literature genre, in which the pursuit of fame and glory plays a significant role. The most famous stories are Yugong wei Qing wang gong 庾公位傾王公, Zhang Ping yi Liu Zhenchang 張憑詣劉真長, Bishi mao shi jiu wu du 畢世茂嗜酒無度, Xu Yun qu chou fu 許允娶丑婦 or Jia gong lünü yue Han Shou 賈公閭女悦韓壽.

The Guozi was written earlier than the famous Shishuo xinyu 世說新語 and can be seen as a precursor to this important genre book. The compiler of the Shishuo copied more than 70 paragraphs from the Guozi. In ancient bibliographies, the Guozi is listed with a length of 3 juan. There was a commentary written by Jia Quan 賈泉.

Both the main text and the commentary are lost. The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ma Guohan 馬國翰 (1794-1857) collected surviving fragments that are to be found in his series Yuhan shanfang jiyi shu 玉函山房輯佚書, as well as in Lu Xun's 魯迅 (1881-1936) story collection Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉.