Ren Fang is an author from ancient China. His dates of birth and death, native place, and courtesy name are not definitively recorded, and available public information is limited. From the works attributed to him, it is clear that he was accomplished in literary and historical writing, with works falling into the categories of literary appreciation and social studies. His representative works are The Origins of Articles (Wenzhang Yuanqi) and Records of Strange Things (Shuyi Ji). The former traces the forms and sources of prose writing and has the character of literary criticism and stylistic inquiry, helping later readers understand ancient classifications of writing and traditions of composition; the latter collects strange tales and belongs to the tradition of notebook fiction, concise in style and rich in curiosity about the unusual. The two books differ greatly in subject—one devoted to tracing literary forms, the other to recording marvels—showing that the author worked in both formal literary discussion and miscellaneous records of the strange. Two of his works are held in the collection, and readers may begin with them to appreciate his writing. Because reliable biographical materials are lacking, his official career, associations, and scholarly lineage are not discussed here.
