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Jianjielu 鑒誡錄

Sep 2, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Jianjielu 鑒誡錄 "Records Serving as a Mirror of Admonishions" (also written 鑑誡錄 or 鑑戒錄) is a collection of stories compiled by the Five Dynasties period 五代 (907-960) scholar He Guangyuan 何光遠, courtesy name He Guangfu 何輝夫. He came from Donghai 東海 and was military supervisor (junshi panguan 軍事判官) of Puzhou 普州 under the Later Shu empire 後蜀 (934-965), one of the Ten Kingdoms 十國 (902-979) that ruled over southern China. His book is 10 juan "scrolls" long and consists of 66 chapters that are each headed with a three-syllable headline. It deals with stories from the Tang 唐 (618-907) and the Five Dynasties periods, but focuses on the empire of Shu (region of modern Sichuan). A considerably part of the chapters is dedicated to the composition of poems, like the chapter Chanyue yin 禪月吟 that tells about the monk and poet Guanxiu 貫休, or Jia xu zhi 賈忤旨that goes about the writer Jia Dao 賈島. The chapter Xuegufeng 削古風 tells how Du Xunhe 杜荀鶴 wrote his Shishi xing 時世行, in which he criticised Zhu Wen 朱溫, the founder of the Later Liang dynasty 後梁 (907-923). The chapter Diaoju'ao 釣巨鰲 explains how the poet Zhang Hu 張祜 met Li Shen 李紳, but the story is narrated differently than in the book Houqinglu 侯鯖錄.
Because of the great role that poetry plays in the Jianjielu the Song period 宋 (960-1279) publisher Ruan Yue 阮閱 included it in the bibliographic chapter Ji yibai jia shihua zongmu 集一百家詩話總目 his collection Shihua zonggui 詩話總龜. The earliest print of the book was produced in a book shop called Masha District 麻沙坊 during the Song period.
The Jianjielu is included in the reprint series Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書, Xuehai leibian 學海類編, Chongwen shuju huike shu 崇文書局匯刻書 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書, where it is included in the category "stories and novels" (xiaoshuojia 小說家).

Source:
Qian Zhonglian 錢仲聯 (1986). "Jianjielu 鑒誡錄", in: Zhong guo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo wenxue 中國文學, Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanhe, vol. 1, p. 299.