The biji (literally "notebook") Nenggai zhai manlu (能改齋漫錄 / 能改斋漫录, pinyin Nénggǎi zhāi mànlù, variously rendered Loose Records from the Studio of Possible Change, Random Notes from Able-to-Change Studio, Casual Records of the Nenggai Studio, and Recollections of the Master of Nenggai) was written by Wu Zeng (吳曾 / 吴曾, fl.
Published in year twenty-seven of the Shaoxing (紹興) reign of the Southern Song (1157 CE), the work originally comprised around twenty booklets (Chinese: 卷).
[1][2] The current edition comprises eighteen themed juan arranged in thirteen chapters; a humorous section (huīxié tánxuè Chinese: 詼諧談謔 / 诙谐谈) has been lost.
They include:[3][1][4] The text often constitutes text-critical study and contains a great deal of literary material from the Tang and Song dynasties.
[1] It is also an important source for the history of Chinese eating and drinking culture, especially the Tang and Song dynasties,[1] and of the Pearl Temple.