孟元老

Meng Yuanlao was a Chinese writer of informal prose (biji) from antiquity. Publicly available information about his life is limited: his birth and death years, native place, and official career are all unknown. He is known for recalling the sights and customs of Bianjing, the Northern Song capital, in his work Dongjing Menghua Lu (A Record of Dreaming of Hua in the Eastern Capital). Volume by volume, it describes the city's layout, seasonal festivals, street food, music and variety performances, and ceremonial customs. The writing is detailed and colored by nostalgia for the lost capital, making it an important source for the study of urban life and folk customs in the Song dynasty. Later readers often compare it with works recording the customs of Lin'an, the Southern Song capital. Eleven related works are held in the collection, spanning informal prose, historical reading, and folk literature, mostly centered on Dongjing Menghua Lu or compiled together with other Song-era historical and literary works, which shows how his writing has been transmitted and received by later generations.