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Yue xiaoji 粵小記

Sep 22, 2019 © Ulrich Theobald

Yue xiaoji 粵小記 "Petty records on Guangdong" is a local history written by Huang Zhi 黃芝 (early 19th cent.), courtesy name Ruigu 瑞谷. The 4-juan long book, printed in 1832 and republished in 1960 by the Sun Yat-sen Library 廣東省立中山圖書館 is based on a wide range of books on the region.

It focuses on the biographies of eminent persons from the region like Huang Xiaoyang 黃蕭養 (d. 1450), Liang Chu 梁儲 (1451-1527), Hai Rui 海瑞 (1514-1587), Zhang Jiayu 張家玉 (1615-1647), Wang Xing 王興, Chen Zizhuang 陳子壯 (1596-1647), Wang Sun 王隼 (1644-1700), Weng Fanggang 翁方綱 (1733-1818), Hang Shijun 杭世駿 (1696-1773), Deng Dalin 鄧大林, Song Xiang 宋湘 (1756-1826), Liang Chong 梁崇, Kang Jitian 康基田 (1732-1813), Li Mingche 李明徹 (1751-1832), Liu Huadong 劉華東 (1778-1841), Zheng Yingkui 鄭應魁, Cui Bi 崔弼 (juren degree 1801) or Liang Wei 梁煒, together nearly a hundred persons, many of which contemporary persons.

In a second part it describes several historic spots like the Daoist Wuxian Temple 五仙觀 or the Guanyin Temple 觀音廟 in Guangzhou or the ancestral shrine (zumiao 祖廟) in Foshan 佛山. Apart from that, it provides a wide range of information on the district of Xiangshan 香山 (today called City of Zhongshan 中山).

An appended chapter called Yuexie 粵諧 "Jokes from Guangdong" records ghosts stories. The "petty records" are a valuable additional source to larger books on the province, like Yue daji 粵大記 and Guangdong tongzhi 廣東通志 by Guo Fei 郭棐 (1529-1605), or Guangdong xinyu 廣東新語 by Qu Dajun 屈大均 (1630-1696).

Source:
Lin Zixiong 林子雄 (2006). "Yue daji 粵大記", in Lingnan wenhua baike quanshu bianji weiyuanhui 《嶺南文化百科全書》編輯委員會, ed. Lingnan wenhua baike quanshu 嶺南文化百科全書 (Beijing: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), 815.