Huichenlu 揮麈錄

Huichenlu 揮麈錄 "Records of a Horsetail Wisk", also called Wangshi huichen lu 王氏揮麈錄 or Huichen qianlu 揮麈前錄, is a biji 筆記 "brush notes" style book written by the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) scholar Wang Mingqing 王明清 (1127-ca. 1214), courtesy name Wang Zhongyan 王仲言. He came from Ruyin 汝陰 (modern Fuyang 阜陽, Anhui) and was grand master for court audiences (chaoqing dafu 朝請大夫), administrative assistant (panguan 判官) of the military commissioner (jiedushi 節度使) of the military prefecture of Ningguo 寧國軍, controller-general (tongpan 通判) of the prefecture of Qinzhou 泰州 and consultant (canyiguan 參議官) to the commissioner of the circuit of Zhexi 浙西. During all this time, a period of more than thirty years, he made down notes on many different themes of history which he then compiled to a 20 juan "scrolls" long book. It consists of four parts (Qianlu 前錄, Houlu 後錄, Sanlu 三錄 and Yulu 餘話) that all focus on historical themes of the period of the downfall of the Northern Song 北宋 (960-1126) and the re-foundation of the dynasty in the south. They include a lot of information on the functioning of the imperial court, but also about poems and inscriptions written during that time and about the persons acting. The Huichenlu is therefore a very important source on the history of the mid-Song period, as was already perceived just after its publication. As a subject of the Song dynasty he criticizes the corruption of officials and the squandering of the court, instead of supporting those who advocated a more offensive relation with the Jin empire 金 (1115-1234).
The Huichenlu is to be found in the reprint series Jindai mishu 津逮秘書 and Sibu congkan xubian 四部叢刊續編. In 1961 the Zhonghua shuju press 中華書局 published a modern edition.

Source: Lin Fei 林非 (ed. 1997). Zhongguo sanwen da cidian 中國散文大辭典, Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe, p. 192.