Shenyiji 神異記

Shenyiji 神異記 "Stories of gods and freaks" was an early collection of stories compiled during the Jin period 晉 (265-420) by Wang Fu 王浮 (265-313), who was a Daoist master living during the reign of Emperor Hui 晉惠帝 (r. 289-306). He was the Libationer (jijiu 祭酒, i.e., tje Chancellor) of the National University (taixue 太學) and is credited with the authorship of the book Laozi huahu jing 老子化胡經, which served to degrade the rival religion of Buddhism as a mere branch of Daoism.

The original Shenyiji is long lost and was reconstructed on the base of fragments quoted in the encyclopedias Taiping yulan 太平御覽, Taiping guangji 太平廣記, Shilei fu zhu 事類賦註 and Taiping huanyu ji 太平寰宇記. The Taiping yulan is the only source stating that Wang Fu was the author of the Shenyiji. The book talked about immortals, the places where they lived, and discerned between several categories of immortals.

Fragment colletions of the Shenyiji are included in the collection Baishi jizhuan 稗史集傳 as well as in Lu Xun's 魯迅 (1881-1936) Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉, where 8 fragments are assembled, three of which seem to be relatively complete stories.