Jilingji 集靈記

Jilingji 集靈記 "Collected tales of miracles" is a collection of fantastic stories compiled by the Northern Qi period 北齊 (550-577) scholar Yan Zhitui 顏之推 who is better known as the author of the family instruction Yanshi jiaxun 顏氏家訓. The originally 20 juan "scrolls" long Jilingji is first mentioned in the imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 of the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書 as a "miscellaneous biography" (zazhuan 雜傳). The bibliographies in the histories Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and Xintangshu 新唐書 list it as a 10 juan long "novella" (xiaoshuo 小說). The original book is long lost, yet a fragment is included in the collection Shuofu 說郛. The fragment consists of a Tang period 唐 (618-907) story, which implies that it was not part of the original Jilingji. Another fragment is included in the reprint series Gujin shuobu congshu 古今說部叢書, and in Lu Xun's 魯迅 Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉 from the Republican period. The story narrates the encounter of the deceased Wang Ji 王輯 with his dead wife and sons, to whom he presents money to be able to survive.