Songwenxuan 宋文選

Songwenxuan 宋文選 "Selected writings of the Song period" is a collection of writings from the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) compiled by an unknown person during the time. The collection includes all different genres arranged chronologically, yet from the writings of Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072) on, only Confucian and political essays are included.

The Songwenxuan does not contain a single writings of Su Xun 蘇洵 (1009-1066) and his sons Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037-1101) and Su Zhe 蘇轍 (1039-1112), a circumstance which can give a hint at the date of compilation, that must have taken place during the time when the writings of the Three Sus 三蘇 were banned for political reasons, but not those of Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 (1045-1105) or Zhang Lei 張耒 (1054-1114). Writings of the two brothers Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032-1085) and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033-1107) are also not included.

The book of 32 juan length is not as rich and important as the Songwenjian 宋文鑒 of Lü Zuqian 呂祖謙 (1137-1181), but it includes a lot of writings that have otherwise not survived. It was therefore included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.