Sichao wenjian lu 四朝聞見錄

Sichao wenjian lu 四朝聞見錄 "Hearsay From the Reigns of Four Emperors" is a biji 筆記 "brush notes" style book written by the Song period 宋 (960-1279) scholar Ye Shaoweng 葉紹翁, courtesy name Ye Jingyi 葉靖逸 or Ye Sizong 葉嗣宗, style Shu Longquan ren 署龍泉人. Of his life, virtually nothing is known. His book consists of five collections, each with a length of 1 juan "scroll". The collections include 207 stories from the reign of the emperors Gaozong 宋高宗 (r. 1127-1162), Xiaozong 宋孝宗 (r. 1162-1189), Guangzong 宋光宗 (r. 1189-1194) and Ningzong 宋寧宗 (r. 1194-1224), the first four rulers of the Southern Song dynasty 南宋 (1127-1279). The stories are not arranged chronologically, but provide a rich insight into unofficial history (yeshi 野史) about the history of this period of time. The book is to be found in the reprint series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Pucheng yishu 蒲城遺書, Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.