Taiping Guangji

The Taiping Guangji^[a] (Chinese: 太平廣記), sometimes translated as the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era or Extensive Records of the Taiping Xingguo Period, is a collection of stories compiled under the second emperor of the Song dynasty, Taizong.^[1] The work was completed in 978, and printing blocks were cut, but it was prevented from official publication on the grounds that it contained only xiaoshuo^[b] and thus "was of no use to students." It circulated in various manuscript copies until it was published in the Ming dynasty.^[2] It is considered one of the Four Great Books of Song (宋四大書). The title refers to the Taiping Xingguo era^[c], the first years of Taizong's reign.^[3]

The collection is divided into 500 volumes (卷; Juǎn) and consists of about 3 million Chinese characters. It includes 7,021 stories selected from over three hundred books and novels from the Han dynasty to the early Song dynasty, many of which have been lost. Some stories are historical or naturalistic anecdotes, each is replete with historical elements, and was not regarded by their authors as fiction, but the topics are mostly supernatural, delving into tales about Buddhist and Taoist priests, immortals, ghosts, and various deities. They include a number of Tang dynasty stories, especially chuanqi (tales of wonder), that are famous works of literature in their own right, while also being the inspiration for later works. ^[2]

In the 17th century, the vernacular novelist and short story writer Feng Menglong produced an abridged edition, Taiping Guangji Chao (太平廣記鈔), reducing the number of stories to 2,500 in 80 volumes.^[4]

Pu Songling was said to have been inspired by Taiping Guangji; the short story "A Sequel to the Yellow Millet Dream" parallels one of Taiping's stories.