Shi Yi Ji

“Shi Yi Ji”《拾遺記》 is authored by Wang Jia, a native of Anyang in Longxi during the Jin Dynasty, styled Zinian. It comprises nineteen volumes with two hundred and twenty sections, all featuring fragmented content. During the decline of the Qin Dynasty, when the governmental structure shifted and the five capitals fell, the regions of Heluo became desolate ruins, palaces and houses were overgrown, and literary collections were buried and destroyed. The frost and dew on brambles and thorns do not only lament the past kings; the weeds overgrowing the grains deeply sorrow this era! Hence, the dispersal of regulations and institutions, the burning of educational halls, and the near extinction of imperial records and emperor’s edicts, led to the loss of many works. This book begins with the era of Emperors Yu and Yan, spanning up to the end of the Western Jin, covering the cyclic rise and fall of five elements and fourteen dynasties. Wang Jia compiled these diverse and peculiar tales, focusing on the strange and unusual, recording events in a simple manner, with a love for the extensive and bizarre. The book revises the ancient texts of statutes and integrates varied compilations, including what is not found in the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ and what is no longer preserved from the Xia Dynasty tripods. The language is excessively grandiose, the intent broad and far-reaching, regretfully leading to redundancy. It extensively covers auspicious omens and tales of immortals, marvelously speaking of all things, truly broad and profound!

As the world’s morality declined, literature became somewhat incomplete. The book further eliminates its chaotic and redundant parts, recording the true and beautiful, exploring the hidden secrets, and gathering the scattered and lost, with words neither deceptive nor groundless, and events not falsely concocted. By thoroughly examining past traces, it mirrors the classics and histories; and by verifying the true and the bizarre, it adheres to diagrams and texts. For distant matters of principle, the language is concise and simple; for recent moral deeds, the writing remains ornate. The compilation interweaves various topics, forming coherent chapters. As dynasties and policies change over time, so do the styles and policies adapt. However, texts like the ‘Golden Rope Bird Seals’ and ‘Jade Slip Insect Scripts’ have been transmitted through later ages with many deviations from the original, and even with careful research and transcription, there are still many doubts and errors. Regarding governance and transformation, or auspicious omens, they are arranged according to the era. The domains of lands, mountains, and rivers are often doubted due to their names; the categories of plants, birds, and animals also confuse with their sounds and forms. The distinctions are made according to their descriptions, explanations vary by region, or they adapt and unify their principles, not solely relying on one theory. Now, having gathered these remnants, they are compiled into one work of ten volumes, sequentially recorded herein.”