Houqinglu 侯鯖錄

Houqinglu 侯鯖錄 "Records of mackerel stew" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Zhao Lingzhi 趙令畤 (1051-1134), courtesy name Jingkuang 景貺 or Delin 德麟, style Liaofuweng 聊複翁 or Cangliu jushi 藏六居士.

Zhao Lingzhi was a descendant of Zhao Dezhao 趙德昭 (951-979), the Prince of Yan 燕 and second son of Emperor Taizu 宋太祖 (r. 960-975), the founder of the Song dynasty. During the Yuanyou reign-period 元祐 (1086-1093), he served as a notary of the administrative military assistant (qianshu 簽書) of Yingzhou 潁州. At that time, the famous writer Su Shi 蘇軾 (Su Dongpo 蘇東坡, 1037-1101) was prefect of Yingzhou, and the both had an intimate friendship. When Su Shi was charged with a crime, Zhao Lingzhi was labelled a collaborator, fined and declared a member of a court faction. With the support of Tan Zhen 譚禎, he was later discharged. Under the reign of Emperor Gaozong 宋高宗 (r. 1127-1162), the founder of the Southern Song 南宋 (1127-1279), Zhao Lingzhi was invested as Commandery Prince of Anding 安定郡王 and appointed to the office of pacification commissioner (chengxuanshi 承宣使) of the military prefecture of Ningyuan 寧遠軍, and later vice administrator (tongzhi 同知) of a branch office of the Chief Office of Imperial Clan Affairs (xingzai dazong zhengshi 行在大宗正事). His collected works are assembled in the book Liaofu ji 聊複集. The title of the Houqinglu is derived from a story from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) in which a certain Lou Huo 樓護 served Wang Wuhou 王五侯 (fl. 27 BCE) a type of delicious soup (later called houqing) that included both fish and meat. The houqing stew symbolises something very excellent.

The 8-juan-long book describes persons, customs and habits, colloquial expressions, poems, stories and events of the author's time. It is written in an exquisite style and has therefore also a specific literary value, particularly the poems to the story of Cui Yingying 崔鶯鶯 in Yuan Zhen's 元稹 (799-831) collection Huizhenji 會真記. The passage demonstrates how the genre of lyric-metre poetry (ci 詞) from the Song period gradually transformed into the zhugongdiao style 諸宮調 of the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368). This can be seen as a link to one of the first great northern-style operas, the Xixiangji 西廂記.

The Houjinglu is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Baihai 稗海, Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書, Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.