Biyunxia 碧雲騢

Biyunxia 碧雲騢 "Red-and-white stallions of the jade-green clouds" or Biyunxia lu 碧雲騢錄 is a collection of stories allegedly compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Mei Yaochen 梅堯臣 (1102-1060), courtesy name Shengyu 聖俞. He hailed from Xuancheng 宣城 and earned his jinshi degree during the reign of Emperor Renzong 宋仁宗 (r. 1022-1063). Although he only occupied the position of Vice Director state farm bureau of the capital officials section (tuntian duguan yuanwailang 屯田都官員外郎) he participated in the draft of the official dynastic history of the Tang dynasty 唐 (618-907), the Jiutangshu 舊唐書.

The title of his book is derived of the type of a horse that is first mentioned in the Confucian Classic Shijing 詩經 "Book of Songs". It consists of a dozen stories that are either arranged in 2 juan (according to the bibliography Junzhai dushu zhi 郡齋讀書志) or only 1 juan (following the bibliography Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題 and the bibliographical chapter of the encyclopedia Wenxian tongakao 文獻通考. All these books categorise the Biyunxia as a collection of novellas (xiaoshuojia 小說家). However, the bibliographical treatise in the history Songshi 宋史 lists it among the biographies (zhuanji 傳記). The Zhizhai shulu jieti assumed that the real author of the collection was Wei Tai 魏泰, who also wrote the book Kuoyizhi 括異志. The transmitted version of the Biyunxia includes a biography of Song Qi 宋祁 (998-1061), the Song Jingwengong zhuanji 宋景文公傳記.

The Biyunxia is to be found in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編, Gushi wenfang xiaoshuo 顧氏文房小說 and Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說.