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A Dictionary of Maqiao by Han Shaogong

Scattered collection of words and anecdotes, one always leading to the next - Maqiao and language itself are inexhaustible. This marries well with how it draws on a longer history of literary forms - zhiguai, unofficial histories, biji and other anecdotes.

Its notion that ancient Chu culture is somehow preserved out in the provinces might strike us now as a bit naive (though, given the context in which the novel was written, forgivable), and it occasionally gets a bit too cute with some of its pithier statements and definitions (e.g. the entries on "scientific"), but these are minor gripes.