Zhugong jiushi 渚宮舊事

Zhugong jiushi 渚宮舊事 "Old Stories from Zhu Palace", also called Zhugong gushi 渚宮故事, is a collection of stories about southern China compiled by the Tang-period 唐 (618-907) scholar Yu Zhigu 余知古 who lived during the reign of Emperor Wenzong 唐文宗 (r. 826-840) and was a court gentleman for ceremonial service (jiangshilang 將仕郎) and an editing clerk (jiaoshu 校書) for the Heir Apparent.

He was very interested in the history of the ancient region of Chu 楚 (modern Hubei and Hunan), and therefore gave his book the name of one of the ancient palaces of the kings of the regional state of Chu, Zhugong 渚宮. The original book was 10-juan long, but the transmitted version consists of only 5 juan, representing the latter half of the book, with a supplement (Buyi 補遺).

The history begins with the reign of the kings of the Yu-Xiong 鬻熊 "dynasty" of the ancient state of Chu and ends in the times during which Yu Zhigu lived. The text is divided according to the dynasties and concentrates on actors and stories around them. The author served himself of a lot of ancient sources, a lot of which have not survived, which makes the book a valuable history of southern China.

It is to be found in the series Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺 and Pingjinguang congshu 平津館叢書.