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The Shiyiji 拾遺記 "Records of picked-up leftovers" is a collection of phantastic stories compiled by the Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) writer Wang Jia 王嘉, courtesy name Wang Zinian 王子年. The book is also known under the name Wang Zinian Shiyiji or Shiyilu 拾遺錄. The received version was probably rearranged by the Liang period 梁 (502-557) scholar Prince Xiao Qi 蕭綺.
The Shijiyi is 10 juan "scrolls" long. The first nine chapters include stories of supernatural events and persons of superhuman abilities from the times of mythology down to Wang's own time. Some of the stories about persons from the Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) and Cao-Wei 曹魏 (220-265) periods have nevertheless some historiographical character. The last chapter includes a description of eight mountains of the Kunlun Range 崑崙, where a lot of immortals were said to live.
The Shiyiji belongs to the literary category of "stories of strange events" (zhiguai 志怪). A lot of the stories (Guanyue cha 貫月槎 or Lunbo zhou 淪波舟) are of high literary value, not only because of the language, but also because of the phantastic plots. The stories are therefore often quoted by later authors, especially the story how the Han period librarian Liu Xiang 劉向 was visited at night by the appearance of an old man, or that of Jia Kui 賈逵 who at the age of 5 was able to recite the Six Classics after he had heard them read aloud by a neighbour.
The oldest surviving print is that of the Shide Hall 世德堂 from 1534. The Shiyiji is included in the collectaneum Baihai 稗海, as well as in the Siku quanshu 四庫全書. There is a modern commentary written by Qi Zhiping 齊治平 and published in 1981 by the Zhonghua shuju press 中華書局.
Source: Bai Huawen 白化文 (1986). "Shiyiji 拾遺記", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo wenxue 中國文學, vol. 2, p. 744. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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