Qingxiang zaji 青箱雜記

Qingxiang zaji 青箱雜記 "Miscellaneous records of the green box" is a collection of stories compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Wu Chuhou 吳處厚 (died c. 1093), courtesy name Bogu 伯固, from Shaowu 邵武 (in today's Fujian province). He passed the imperial examination during the Huangyou reign-period 皇祐(1049–1054) and began his official career as Assistant Director at the Directorate of Imperial Manufacture (jiangzuo jiancheng 將作監丞), later receiving a post in the Hanlin Academy 翰林院. He was then appointed as Military Prefect of Hanyang (zhi Hanyang jun 知漢陽軍), and subsequently promoted to prefect of Weizhou 衛州.

Wu became notorious for distorting Cai Que's 蔡確 (1037-1093) poem Chegaiting shi 車蓋亭詩 to accuse Cai him for political purposes falsely, an act widely despised by scholars and officials of the time. The official dynastic history Songshi 宋史, therefore, includes him in the "Biographies of treacherous officials" (471-474 Jianchen zhuan 姦臣傳).

The book of 10 juan in length was completed in 1087. It primarily records various anecdotes and facts from the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960) and Northern Song 北宋 (960-1126) periods, including matters of the court and society, official systems, historical anecdotes, poetic discussions, folk customs, and more. It provides detailed accounts of the structure of the Northern Song imperial academies and government institutions, as well as the birth and death dates of several political figures. It preserves many lesser-known anecdotes about renowned Northern Song literati and scholars. Some poems quoted in the book had not appeared in any other sources at the time. It also notes that even those considered upright and virtuous politicians of the time composed elegant and romantic verses. For instance, Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019-1086), who is better known as a historian and politician, is said to have written the poems Ruan Lan gui 阮郎歸, Jijiang yue 西江月 and Jintang chun 錦堂春, revealing the social atmosphere of the Northern Song era. The book also includes so-called poetry prophecies (shichan 詩讖) and character appraisals (pinzao renwu 品藻人物), some of which are rather strange or far-fetched. There are also occasional factual inaccuracies in the accounts.

The text is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Baihai 稗海, Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀, and in abbreviated shape in the Tang-Song congshu 唐宋叢書 and the Shuofu 說郛 (Wanwei Shantang 宛委山堂 edition). In 1985, the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published a modern edition with annotations by Li Yumin 李裕民. This edition is part of the series Tang-Song shiliao biji congkan 唐宋史料筆記叢刊.