Mo'e xiaolu 墨娥小錄

Mo'e xiaolu 墨娥小錄 "Petty notes of Ink Beauty" is an anonymous book of 14 juan length written during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644). Zhang (1980) assumes that the author was the play writer Hu Wenhuan 胡文焕 (late 16th cent.).

Even if the book can be called a kind of encyclopaedia of everyday life, the Mo'e xiaolu has a focus on the "cultivation of veracity and nourishing one's character" (xiu zhen yang xing 修真養性). Another part often mentioned expounds on issues of agriculture like fascicle 3, which deals with diet; part 8, which is dedicated to the cultivation of plants; and juan 13 on animal husbandry. Apart from these agricultural aspects, the book provides information on literature, antiquities, art, the calendar, incense, dominoes (yapai 牙牌), tea (tangming 湯茗), medicine, Buddhist enlightenment (wuzhen 悟真), alchemy (danfang 丹房) and "magic" (fangshu 方術). The book has thus a particular scientific value, all the more as it was written before the famous books Tiangong kaiwu 天工開物 and Bencao gangmu 本草綱目. It is mentioned and quoted in Gao Lian's 高濂 (c. 1600) Zunsheng bajian and Fang Yizhi's 方以智 (1611-1671) Wuli xiaoshi 物理小識.

Figures 1-2. Images of domino combinations from the Mo'e xiaolu 墨娥小錄

Top: 1571 edition. Bottom: 1767 edition by Xuepu Nannong 學圃山農

The earliest print dates from 1571. According to the preface, this version was revised by Wu Ji 吳繼. In 1767, a pocket-book version (xiuzhenben 袖珍本) was published. The text is included in the series Gezhi congshu 格致叢書. A further publication dates from 1883.