Shiyiji 拾遺記

Shiyiji 拾遺記 "Records of picked-up leftovers" is a collection of fantastic stories compiled during the Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) by Wang Jia 王嘉 (d. 390), courtesy name Zinian 子年. The book is also known with the title Wang Zinian shiyi ji 王子年拾遺記 or Shiyilu 拾遺錄.

Wang Jia's story collection must not be confounded with Yan Shigu's 顏師古 (581-645) Daye shiyi ji 大業拾遺記, Mao Xianshu's 毛先舒 (1620-1688) Nantang shiyi ji 南唐拾遺記 or Mao Qiling's 毛奇齡 (1623-1716) Tongshi shiyi ji 彤史拾遺記.

According to Wang's biography in the official dynastic history Jinshu 晉書, he hailed from Anyang 安陽 in the commandery of Longxi 隴西 (modern Weiyuan 渭源, Gansu). He was a famous Daoist master of his time and lived in the valley of Dongyang 東陽. Wang refrained from eating grain, wore unadorned clothes and ingested breath as his diet. He had several hundred disciples who all lived in mountain caves. Later on, he moved to Mt. Zhongnan 終南, and then to Mt. Shoushan 獸山. Fu Jian 苻堅 (r. 356-384), emperor of the Former Qin dynasty 前秦 (351-394), invited him several times to a court audience, but Wang Jia declined. Wang Jia was believed to be able to predict the future, and was killed when he announced an unpleasant future to Yao Chang 姚萇 (r. 384-393), the emperor of the Later Qin 後秦 (384-417).

The received version of the Shiyiji was probably rearranged during the Liang period 梁 (502-557) by Prince Xiao Qi 蕭綺, who says in the preface that the original version was 19 juan long and included 22 chapters. Part of the book was lost during the disturbances in northern China after the disintegration of the Former Qin empire. From that time on, the book is listed with a length of but 10 juan long and with the title Shiyilu. The Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Hu Yinglin 胡應麟 (1551-1602) was therefore of the opinion that the book was a forgery by Xiao Qi and not a genuine compilation of Wang Jia.

The first nine chapters of the Shiyiji include stories of supernatural events and persons of superhuman abilities from the times of mythology (Pao Xi 庖犧, Shen Nong 神農 or the Yellow Emperor 黃帝) down to Wang's own time (Eastern Jin dynasty and the Later Zhao dynasty 後趙, 319-350). Some of the stories about persons from the Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) and Cao-Wei 曹魏 (220-265) periods have a historiographical character, nevertheless. The last chapter includes a description of eight mountains and islands where a lot of immortals were said to live, namely the Kunlun Range 崑崙, Penglai 蓬萊, Fangzhang 方丈, Yingzhou 瀛洲, Yuanjiao 員嶠, Huoyu 貸輿, Kunwu 昆吾, and Dongting 洞庭.

The Shiyiji belongs to the literary category of "stories of strange events" (zhiguai 志怪). Many stories, as for instance, Guanyue cha 貫月槎 or Lunbo zhou 淪波舟, are of a high literary value, not only because of the language, but also because of the fantastic plots. The stories were, therefore, often quoted by later authors, especially the story how the Han-period librarian Liu Xiang 劉向 (77-6 BCE) was visited at night by the appearance of an old man, or that of Jia Kui 賈逵 (174-228), who at the age of 5 sui, was able to recite the Six Classics after he had heard them read aloud by a neighbour, or the story of Lü Meng 呂蒙 (178-219) studying the Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes" or that of a white monkey (baiyuan 白猿) transforming into a man.

The oldest surviving print is that of the Shide Hall 世德堂 from 1534. The Shiyiji is included in the series Baihai 稗海, Gujin yishi 古今逸史, Han-Wei congshu 漢魏叢書, Guang Han-Wei congshu 廣漢魏叢書, Mishu ershiyi zhong 秘書二十一種, Gujin xiaoshi 古今小史, as well as in the Siku quanshu 四庫全書. There is a modern commentary written by Qi Zhiping 齊治平 and published in 1981 by the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局.