Xiaoxianglu 瀟湘錄

Xiaoxianglu 瀟湘錄 "Records from the Regions of Xiao and Xiang" is a collection of stories compiled by the Tang period 唐 (618-907) scholar Liu Xiang 柳祥, or by Li Yin 李隱. Both persons are otherwise unknown, except the fact that Li Yin was an editor in a central government agency (jiaoshulang 校書郎). Xiao and Xiang are two rivers in the province of Hunan. The original book was 10 juan "scrolls" long, but only a fraction of 24 paragraphs has survived. Most of these are also to be found in other collections. The stories narrate supernatural events like the realization of a dream or the magical power of a Daoist master, or admonish the audience to consider the retribution of sins in a later life. The literary style of the stories is considerably and includes some poems and verses from theatre plays. The Song period 宋 (960-1279) master Hong Mai 洪邁, author of the Yijianzhi 夷堅志, was already of the opinion that the Xiaoxianglu was identical with Li Ying's 李隱 Da-Tang qishi ji 大唐奇事記, an assumption that is shared by Chen Zhensun 陳振孫, author of the bibliography Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題. It is therefore not known who attributed the text to Liu Xiang.
The Xiaoxianglu is to be found in the reprint series Wuchao xiaoshuo daguan 五朝小說大觀 (only 6 stories), Tangren shuohui 唐人說薈, Guang baichuan xuehai 廣百川學海, Gujin shuohai 古今說海, Shuofu 說郛, Tangdai congshu 唐代叢書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編, and one story is also quoted in the collection Taiping guangji 太平廣記.