Tangyulin 唐語林

Tangyulin 唐語林 "Forest of discussions about the Tang period" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Wang Dang 王讜 (c. 1100), courtesy name Fu 甫. He hailed from Chang'an 長安 (modern Xi'an 西安, Shaanxi) and was a nephew of Counsellor-in-chief Lü Dafang 呂大防 (1027-1097). In 1089, he was appointed Vice Director (jiancheng 監丞) of the Directorate of Education (guozijian 國子監) and later Vice Director of the Imperial Manufactories (shaofujian 少府監).

The 8-juan-long Tangyulu imitates the famous book Shishuo xinyu 世說新語 from the Liang period 梁 (502-557) in the intention to narrate stories and discussions of fifty famous scholars of the Tang period 唐 (618-907). The book is arranged in 52 chapters and quotes extensively from the writings of these scholars. This method differs from the Shishuo xinyu, where the text was written as a narrative style. The Tangyulu encompasses a vast range of themes, from court politics and historical events to stories set in the imperial city, the activities and discourses of scholars and officials, tales about writers, and information about the customs and habits of ordinary people. It is, therefore, an essential source on the political and social history of the Tang period, all the more as the original books from which Wang Dang has quoted are often lost.

The Tangyulu itself was lost as an individual text at the beginning of the Ming period 明 (1368-1644), but fortunately, large fragments could be reconstructed from the encyclopaedia Yongle dadian 永樂大典. The received text is therefore not identical to the original book, but it was brought into an acceptable form by the compilers of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. The Tangyulu is also to be found in the reprint series Wuyingdian juzhen ban congshu 武英殿聚珍板, Minfu juzhen congshu 閩覆聚珍, Guangya chuju chongke 廣雅書局重刻 (with an additional juan of fragments, and critically revised by Sun Xinghua 孫星華), Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺, Xiyinxuan congshu 惜陰軒叢書, Shuoku 說庫 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編. In 1957, the Shanghai Guji Wenxue Press 上海古典文學出版 published a modern edition, a year later the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局.

A supplement, Tangyulin bu 唐語林補, with a length of 1 juan and including 14 stories, was compiled by Lu Xinyuan 陸心源 (1834-1894). It is part of the collections Qianyuan zongji 潛園總集 and Qunshu jiaobu 群書校補.