Wenjian jinlu 聞見近錄

Wenjian jinlu 聞見近錄 "Latest records of hearsay" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Wang Gong 王鞏 (1048-1118), who also wrote the book Jiashen zaji 甲申雜記.The short Wenjian jinlu was finished around 1104 and includes historical narratives from the reign of Emperor Shizong 周世宗 (r. 954-959) of the Later Zhou dynasty 後周 (951-960) down to the times of Emperor Shenzong 宋神宗 (r. 1067-1085) of the Song. Still, it focuses on events of the early Song period. The stories reported in this book, whether about occurrences at the court or about private persons and their lives, were of a very popular, sometimes also funny, character and belonged to the type of literary material often used for orally narrated novels (huaben 話本) or theatre plays.

There is also the short supplementary text called Xu wenjian jinlu 續聞見近錄, in which Wang Gong writes about the life times of his father, Wang Su 王素 (1007-1073). In contrast to the Wenjian jinlu, this book is of a higher literary quality.

The Wenjian jinlu is included in the series Shuofu 說郛, Siku quanshu and Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書.