Biji (Chinese literature)

Biji (Traditional Chinese: 筆記) is a genre in classical Chinese literature. It roughly translates "notebook". A book of biji can contain anecdotes, quotations, random musings, philological speculations, literary criticism and indeed everything that the author deems worth recording. The genre first appeared during the Tang Dynasty. The biji of that period of time mostly contains the believe-it-or-not kind of anecdotes, and many of them can be treated as collections of short fictions. To differentiate this kind of "biji fiction" from the general biji, the former is later called biji xiaoshuo (筆記小說). Biji flourished during the Song Dynasty, and continued to flourish during the later dynasties.

Famous works of biji include:

• Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang (酉陽雜俎), by Duan Chengshi, Tang Dynasty
• Notes by the Dream Rivulet (夢溪筆談) by Shen Kua,Song dynasty
• Notebooks from a Grace Study (容齋隨筆) by Hong Mai, Song dynasty, five notebooks containing a total of 1220 notes on botany, poetry, literature, history, geography, mathematics, art of war etc, considered an essential reference on history of Song dynasty.
• Little Notes on the Nature of Things (物理小識) by Fang Yi-zhi, Ming dynasty, a scientific work.