Guangyiji 廣異記

Guangyiji 廣異記 was a collection of fantastic stories compiled during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by Dai Fu 戴孚 (fl. 770). The original size of the book was 20 juan.

Although some of the content overlaps with earlier works, many of the stories are novel and outstanding. They also inspired later works of the same kind, for example, the story "Three Guards" (San wei 三衛) in relation to Li Chaowei's 李朝威 (766-820) Liu Yi zhuan 柳毅傳, "The Village Bailiff of Yingyang" (Yingang lizheng 潁陽里正) in relation to Li Fuyan's 李復言 (fl. 830) Li Weigong Jing 李衛公靖, or "The Jewel" (Baozhu 寶珠) with regard to the drama "Scholar Zhang Boils the Sea" (Zhang sheng zhu hai 張生煮海).

One of the book's essential features is its extensive use of folk tales and legends: no fewer than 33 stories feature fox spirits as the main characters. Many of these tales are vivid, finely written, and rich in human feeling, and they were widely drawn upon and imitated by later writers.

The Guangyiji is not listed in pre-Song 宋 (960-1279) book catalogues, and Zeng Zao's 曾慥 (died 1155 or 1164) Leishuo 類說 mentions only one story. One fascicle of the Guangyiji appears in the series Shuofu 說郛, Longwei mishu 龍威秘書, and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編. Larger fragments of the Guangyiji, consisting of 6 juan, are recorded in the catalogues Yeshiyuan shumu 也是園書目, Dushu minqiu ji 讀書敏求記, and Tieqintongjianlou cangshu mulu 鐵琴銅劍樓藏書目錄. These versions seem to have been enlarged by additional stories. Quotations from the Guangyiji can also be found in the series Jiu xiaoshuo 舊小說 and the Song-period collection Taiping guangji 太平廣記.