Dongzhai jishi 東齋記事

Dongzhai jishi 東齋記事 "Records from the Eastern Study" is a biji 筆記 "brush notes" style book written by the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) scholar Fan Zhen 范鎮 (1001-1087), courtesy name Fan Jingren 范景仁. He came from Huayang 華陽 near Chengdu 成都, Sichuan, and was a member of the Remonstrance Bureau (jianyuan 諫院) and later an academician (xueshi 學士) in the Hanlin Academy 翰林院. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong 宋神宗 (r. 1067-1085) he criticized the reform politics of Wang Anshi 王安石 and therefore resigned as Vice Minister of Revenue (hubu shilang 戶部侍郎). Under Emperor Zhezong 宋哲宗 (r. 1085-1100) he was made *Supervisor of the Promotion of Religion (tiju chongfu guan 提舉崇福官) and was finally given the title of Commandery Duke of Shu 蜀郡公. The book Dongzhai jishi is the result of Fan Zhen's discussions with the thinker, historian and politician Sima Guang 司馬光. The original shape of the book is not preserved, but it was possible to reconstruct 5 juan "scrolls" of it as a quotation in the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) encyclopedia Yongle dadian 永樂大典, with fragments constituting the sixth juan of the current version. It includes information on the political, administrative and social history of the Northern Song court and Fan Zhen's homeland in Sichuan.
The Dongzhai jishi is included in the reprint series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺, Shoushange congshu 守山閣叢書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編本. In 1980 the Zhonghua shuju press 中華書局 published a modern, annotated edition.