Alongside his participation in compiling the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, Ji Yun wrote Notes from the Thatched Cottage of Close Observations, recording unusual tales, observations, and comments in classical Chinese notebook prose. The pieces were later collected in volumes, with a narrative approach different from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Commentary within the uncanny stories reflects his knowledge and moral judgments.
Historical background
Ji Yun, also known as Ji Xiaolan or Ji Chunfan was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was an influential scholar of Qing dynasty China and many anecdotes have been recorded about him. Ji Yun authored Notes of the Thatched Abode of Close Observations and Wenda Gong Yiji, which was edited by later generations. He was often mentioned with Yuan Mei as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji".
Ji Yun was born in Xian County of Zhili province (modern Hebei). When he was young, he was deemed intelligent. His father Ji Rongsu was a civil minister and archaeologist.
Career
In 1747, Ji Yun rose to intellectual prominence after winning the highest distinction in the provincial examinations. Several years later, in 1754, he attained the jinshi degree, whereupon he entered the Hanlin Academy.
Ji Yun's career was not, however, smooth sailing. In 1768, he became an accessory in a bribery case after he tipped off a brother-in-law about the severity of charges pending against him, for which crime he was banished to Dihua in Ili (predecessor of Xinjiang Province).
On his return from Xinjiang, Ji was received by the Qianlong Emperor in 1771 when the ruler happened to be returning from Jehol to Beijing, and he was ordered to write a poem on the return of the Turgut Mongols from the banks of the Volga. Ji's rendition of the inspiring tale of the return of the exiled Mongols, later celebrated in English by poet Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859) in his epic Revolt of the Tartars, delighted the emperor, for whom he became an unofficial poet laureate.
Ji's pardon and return journey took place in 1771. During that journey he wrote a travel account distilled into 160 poems, titled Xinjiang zalu, or Assorted Verses on Xinjiang. It became an important source for the history of life in the region in the late eighteenth century. This writing connects his experiences away from the capital with the observational habits also visible in his later notes and collections.
Achievement
The supernatural collection forms another part of Ji's writing career. Its accounts drew largely on material received from friends and colleagues, together with experiences he reported from childhood and official service. These stories reveal a world in which scholarly learning and interest in extraordinary events could coexist. They can be examined for the assumptions and concerns of their narrators without requiring a modern reader to accept the supernatural events as established fact.
In addition, Ji Yun was also well known for the magnum opus of Qing editorial achievement, Siku quanshu (The Complete Library in Four Branches); he edited this massive work together with Lu Xixiong, in compliance with an imperial edict issued by the Qianlong Emperor.
Historical background
Notes of the Thatched Abode of Close Observations, also translated as Random Jottings from the Cottage of Close Scrutiny and Fantastic Tales By Ji Xiaolan, is a collection of purportedly true supernatural stories compiled by Qing Dynasty scholar-official Ji Yun. Roughly comprising 1,200 entries, the majority of Ji's stories were collected from his friends and colleagues. Others were based on his own experiences during childhood and encounters during the course of his long official career.
Ji Yun published five volumes of supernatural stories from 1789 to 1798: Written to Pass the Season at the Summer Resort in 1789, So Have I Heard in 1791, Jottings from My Haidian Lodging in 1792, No Harm in Listening in 1793, and More from the Summer Resort in 1798. In 1800, his student, Sheng Shiyan, amalgamated the volumes into a single collection, Yuewei caotang biji, named after Ji's studio.
Stories
The stories in the Notes feature many supernatural beings, cryptids and concepts from Chinese folklore, including jiangshi, hulijing and yeren, in addition to ghosts and spirits.
According to Leo Tak-Hung Chan, the Notes is the 'most voluminous zhiguai collection in late imperial China' as well as one of the most misunderstood. Most of the tales collected by Ji were contributed by his friends and acquaintances, many of whom were distinguished government officials, scholars, and members of gentry.