Pei Qi is a noteworthy author in the history of ancient Chinese fiction, known from the attribution of the book Peizi Yulin (Pei Qi's Forest of Sayings). Public information about his life is limited: his native place, dates of birth and death, and official career cannot be reliably established, and only one of his works is held in this collection. Peizi Yulin belongs to the genre of anecdotes about notable figures (zhiren xiaoshuo), recording in brief entries the conversations, conduct, and amusing incidents of celebrated men from the Han and Wei periods onward. Its style is concise, often sketching a person's character in a few words, and it is akin to the tradition of A New Account of Tales of the World. The book is frequently mentioned in studies of Six Dynasties fiction, and some of its entries are quoted in later encyclopedias and miscellanies, offering reference value for understanding the manners and pure conversation culture of the literati of that era. Since the original work is lost, what survives consists mainly of reconstructed editions, through which readers can appreciate the plain yet vivid narrative characteristics of early anecdotal fiction.
