Source: Shen Kuo in Northern Song Dynasty, Mengqianbitan, Yuezhou eel well, on a big stone, its height is several feet, and the well is only a few inches. It's also a stone, with unknown depth. Tang said, "The eel well in Chunjiang is deep." Even here, it is far away. When an eel travels, people will put it in their sleeves, so it's not surprising to guess. Like an eel, it has scales, big ears and knife marks on its tail.

Vernacular Interpretation: There is an eel well in Yingtian Temple, Yuezhou, which is a few feet high on a boulder and the wellhead is only a few inches wide. It is a cave, unknown. Xu Dong's poem in the Tang Dynasty said: "The eel well opens in late spring." This is an eel well with a long history. Eels in the well sometimes swim out of the well and are picked up and put in their sleeves. Eels are not afraid. The eel in the well is similar to the common eel, but it has scales, big ears and knife marks on its tail.

Extended data writing background:

Shen Kuo has a clear explanation in "Preface to Meng Qian Bi Tan": After 1082, the author was politically frustrated, and lived in Runzhou around 1088, where Meng Xi Park was built (in present-day Zhenjiang East, Jiangsu). The author seldom goes out to associate with people in his daily life, which means that he retreats to the mountains and lives in seclusion.

Meng Qian Bitan was named because the author Shen Kuo finished his works in Meng Xi Park (note: at least the main part has been completed and finalized, which is indisputable and there is no conflict in the examination and approval of Meng Qian Bitan's preface), so he named this garden "Meng Xi".

Written language is due to talking with guests in the garden at ordinary times, and the author often records "talking with the guest speaker" in the book. Friends and friends have been together for a long time, and the author thinks it is like "talking with the speaker, just writing with a pen and inkstone", so he uses the name "pen talk" These two series are called Meng Qian Bi Tan.

Introduction to the article:

Meng Qian Bitan, the oldest version that can be seen now is the engraving of 1305 (the ninth year of Yuan Dade) of Chen Renzi Dongshan Academy collected by the National Library of China. According to the second edition of the Southern Song Dynasty Trunk Road Edition (see the illustration in this section), we can get a glimpse of the original appearance of the Song Dynasty Edition. Its format is very large and fine, but its binding is very small. Binding was a popular butterfly costume at that time, and it was unique in the Yuan Dynasty.

At the beginning of Yuan Dade's publication, there are two seals: Zhu, Dong Gong Shu Fu and Ge. There are also books printed by Yin and Pingyang Wang, and Jia Zibing Yin, Han Dejun and Qian Runwen took refuge with books twice.