Shuolüe 說略

Shuolüe 說略 "Concise explanations" is an encyclopedic collection of short stories compiled during the Ming period by Gu Qiyuan 顧起元 (1565-1628), courtesy name Taichu 太初 or Linchu 鄰初, style Dunyuan Jushi 遁園居士, from Jiangning 江寧 close to Nanjing, Jiangsu. He obtained the jinshi degree in 1598, and had a career as junior compiler of the Hanlin Academy (Hanlinyuan bianxiu 翰林院編修)，director of the Directorate of Education (guozijian jijiu 國子監祭酒) in Nanjing, and Left Vice Minister of Personnel (libu zuo shilang 吏部左侍郎), concurrent with the post of academician reader-in-waiting (shidu xueshi 侍讀學士) of the Hanlin Academy. Gu wrote the books Gushi xiaoshi 顧氏小史, Jinling gujin tukao shuolüe 金陵古今圖考說略, Kezuo zhuiyu 客座贅語 and Dunyuan mangao 遁園漫稿.

The book includes a supplement compiled by the author's brother Gu Qifeng 顧起鳳 (b. 1583). Some scholars attribute authorship of the book to Yu Maoheng 余懋衡 (d. 1629), courtesy name Chiguo 持國 or Pingbo 平伯, style Shaoyuan 少原. The preface was written in 1613. The book has a length of 30 juan (a version from the Tianqi reign-period 天啟, 1621-1627, is divided into 60 juan) and contains 21 chapters. The transmitted version, however, is arranged in 8 juan.

The book is a collection of stories and novellas arranged into several categories, similar to Zeng Zao's 曾慥 (early 12th cent.) Leishuo 類說 and Tao Zongyi's 陶宗儀 (1329-1410) Shuofu 說郛.