Zheng Huan'gu is an author of classical Chinese tales. Because public records are limited, his life, native place, and dates of birth and death can no longer be reliably established. The surviving Bo Yi Zhi (Records of the Broad and Strange), attributed to him, is a representative Tang-dynasty collection of zhiguai and chuanqi tales, largely concerned with gods, ghosts, strange beings, and marvels. Its plots are intricate and its descriptions detailed, giving it a distinctive place among Tang fiction. Later bibliographies usually place Bo Yi Zhi among the xiaoshuojia (fiction writers) of the masters' works, which shows its position in the tradition of classical tales. This library holds one work by the author, commonly classified under Eastern philosophy, a grouping closer to the traditional four-part classification than to philosophy in the strict sense. Readers wishing to know Zheng Huan'gu should begin with the themes and narrative manner of Bo Yi Zhi and appreciate the interest and character of Tang-dynasty strange tales.
