Yiyou yiyou jiacheng 宜州乙酉家乘

Yiyou jiacheng 宜州家乘 or Yizhou yiyou jiacheng 宜州乙酉家乘 "Family chronicle from Yizhou in the year yihai" is a diary-style notebook written during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) by Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 (1045-1105) while in exile in Yizhou 宜州 (modern-day Guangxi province), in 1105.

The work documents a complete record of the author's exile from the first day of the lunar new year until his death on the twenty-ninth day of the eighth month. It records his interactions with over fifty relatives, friends, officials, and commoners, and includes practical details about daily life, such as food and drink, medicine, tea and wine, and weather observations. Consequently, the book is considered a valuable source for studying social life in the remote region of Guangxi during the Song era. As one of the earliest surviving examples of a private diary in China, its combination of Confucian and Daoist thought also establishes its significant role in the history of classical prose.

The work is arranged in chronological order, documenting Huang's daily observations. He records meteorological phenomena such as weather changes, rainfall, and frost, as well as southern specialities including betel nut and lychee. The entries also include details about local medical practices, such as the use of products like poria (fuling 茯苓) and atractylodes (cangshu 蒼術), as well as social relations that depict interactions with local officials, Buddhist monks, Daoist practitioners, and ordinary people.

The prose style continues Huang Tingjian's creative ideal of "turning iron into gold" (dian tie cheng jin 點鐵成金). Within everyday life, he weaves in philosophical reflection, for instance, expounding the principle of the "unity of Heaven and humanity" (tian ren he yi 天人合一) through the act of drinking tea, thus reflecting the maturity of his literary expression in his later years.

As the earliest surviving systematic private diary, this work holds a threefold historical significance: It serves as a source of social history by offering detailed records of products and trade in the Lingnan 嶺南 frontier region during the Song period, alongside local customs, beliefs, and the lives of migrants. For example, the entries demonstrate that the term fanliao 範寥 refers to an official responsible for overseeing exiles. The diary's account of the city walls of Yizhou complements the description in the geographical chapter (85-90 Dili zhi 地理志) of the official dynastic history Songshi 宋史, providing evidence for reconstructing the urban layout of towns in the southwestern region. Second, it pioneered the diary-style form of prose, influencing later works of this kind, such as Lu You's 陸游 (1125－1210) Rushuji 入蜀記. Third, it reflects the spiritual journey of an exiled scholar integrating Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist thought.

The book was popular during the Southern Song period. It is mentioned and quoted in Zhou Bida's 周必大 (1126-1204) Yigong tiba 益公題跋.

The text is found in the series Shuofu 說郛 and Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書.