Ding Jingong tanlu 丁晉公談錄

Ding Jingong tanlu 丁晉公談錄 is a collection of stories compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Ding Wei 丁謂 (966-1037), courtesy name Weizhi 謂之 or Gongyan 公言, from Suzhou 蘇州. He obtained the jinshi degree in 992 and was appointed as Judicial Evaluator at the Court of Judicial Review (dalisi pingshi 大理寺評事), later serving as vice administrative commissioner (tongpan 通判) of Raozhou 饒州. He advanced to become head of the Bureau of Military Affairs (shumiyuan 樞密院) and Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery (tong zhongshu menxia pingzhang shi 同中書門下平章事), and was invested as Duke of Jin 晉公. As a chief minister, he strongly opposed Kou Zhun 寇準 (961-1023), who advocated military resistance against the Liao empire 遼 (907-1125) in the north. When Emperor Renzong 宋仁宗 (r. 1022-1063) ascended the throne, Ding Wei served as the official overseeing Emperor Zhenzong's 宋真宗 (r. 997-1022) funeral rites (shanlingshi 山陵使). He was later accused of colluding with palace eunuchs and was demoted to assistant revenue manager (sihu canjun 司戶參軍) of Yazhou 崖州, before being exiled to Leizhou 雷州. Subsequently, he retired from office while serving as Director of the Palace Library (bishusheng jian 祕書省監) and lived in Guangzhou 光州.

Ding Wei wrote, among others, a book on tea, Beiyuan chalu 北苑茶錄. His essay Tianxiangzhuan 天香傳 is the earliest systematic text dedicated specifically to agarwood.

The Tanlu recounts the life and career of Ding Wei. Chao Gongwu 晁公武 (c. 1105-1180), in his book catalogue Junzhai dushu zhi 郡齋讀書志, believed the book originated from the household of Pan Yanzhi 潘延之 (Pan Rushi 潘汝士) of Hongzhou 洪州 and suspected that it was written by Pan Yanzhi himself, who was also Ding Wei's nephew. However, upon examining the book today, one finds numerous instances where historical facts are inverted and judgments are contrary to accepted opinion. It is therefore doubtful that Pan Yanzhi actually wrote the work.

The Ding Jingong tanlu is not listed in later bibliographies. The descriptive catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 includes it in the section of "existing books" (cunmu 存目) of the novellist category (xiaoshuojia 小說家), but it is not included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. However, it is preserved in the series Shuofu 說郛, Baichuan xuehai 百川學海 und Zhongguo yeshi jicheng 中國野史集成.