fêng, 4 chüan; a description of various kinds of fish in that region, entitled 然犀志 Jan-hsi chih, 2 chüan; a collection of notes in the examination system, entitled 制義科瑣記 Chih-i k'o so-chi, 4 + 1 chüan, with a preface by Li dated 1778; and a series of miscellaneous notes which he made while traveling in Kwangtung, entitled 南越筆記 Nan-yüeh pi-chi, 16 chüan. After three years he returned to the capital and was appointed (1781) intendant of the T'ung-yung Circuit, Chihli. On April 26, 1781, he was ordered to Jehol to try important cases in that region. This journey, which lasted from April 27 to May 18, he wrote up in a diary entitled 出口程記 Ch'u-k'ou ch'êng-chi, 1 chüan.
In 1782 he was ordered, by imperial decree, to be responsible for the transport of a set of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under Chi Yün) from the capital to the library, Wên Su Ko 文溯閣, at Shên-yang (Mukden). In the course of the journey the set was damaged by rain, and after recriminations between himself and Kung Yang-chêng 弓養正, prefect of Yung-p'ing, Chihli, he was imprisoned (early in 1783) and, when tried, was sentenced to banishment in I-li, but was allowed to redeem himself by the payment of a fine, upon the recommendation of Yüan Shou-t'ung 袁守侗 (T. 執沖, H. 愚谷, posthumous name 清愨, 1723–1783). He retired in 1784 to his native place and lived there until his death eighteen years later. During his retirement he and three other notables, including Yüan Mei [q. v.], Chao I, and Wang Wên-chih, were known as the Lin-hsia Ssŭ-lao 林下四老 or the "Four Retired Scholars."
Li T'iao-yüan was a bibliophile and his interest in book-collecting began when he was with his father in Chekiang. On his return to Szechwan (1759) he had accumulated some 10,000 chüan for which he later (1785) built a private library known as Wan-chüan Lou 萬卷樓. Prior to its destruction in 1800 this was considered the largest collection of books in Western Szechwan. In 1781, while serving as circuit judge in Chihli, he enriched this collection by copying from the Ssŭ-k'u Imperial Library a number of rare works, most of them about his native province or by his fellow-provincials. These works and most of his own writings, totaling some 142 items, were included in his collectanea, 函海 Han-hai, which was compiled and printed during the years 1778-84. A continuation of this collectanea under the title Hsü (續) han-hai, consisting of 11 items, was printed in 1801. The Han-hai was re-edited and re-printed several times after Li's death and the 1882 edition has a total number of 159 titles. About half of the works in this ts'ung-shu are by writers who lived from the Chin (晉) to the Ming period inclusive, and the other half consist of some 40 works by Yang Shên 楊愼 (T. 用修, H. 升菴, 1488–1559) whose nien-p'u Li compiled, and some 50 works by Li himself. While Li was in prison in Peking (1783), and before the Han-hai was completed, the printing blocks were claimed by his publisher, but were later released to him through the financial assistance of his friend, Ch'ên Tsung (see under Chang Hsüeh-chêng).
Li T'iao-yüan was an extraordinarily prolific writer. He produced some 14 works dealing with nearly every one of the traditional classics. His notes on the Historical Record (Shih-chi) and on the Han Dynastic History (Han-shu) were brought together under the collective title, 史說 Shih-shuo, 6 chüan. Not satisfied with the dictionary of obsolete terms, 奇字韻 Ch'i tzŭ yün, 15 chüan, compiled by Yang Shên, he rearranged and enlarged it under the title Ch'i tzŭ ming (名), 12 chüan. Deeply interested in the meaning and sounds of Chinese characters and phrases, he compiled the following works: 彙音 Hui-yin (or 古音合 Ku-yin ho), 2 chüan, a list of characters with two or more sounds; 通詁 T'ung-ku, 2 chüan, a study of the meaning of literary terms; 字錄 Tzŭ-lu, 2 chüan, on the meaning of archaic characters; 六書分毫 Liu-shu fên-hao, 2 chüan, a collection of characters similar in form but with different meanings or with variant forms but identical meanings; and 方言藻 Fang-yen ts'ao, 2 chüan, a collection of colloquial expressions used in literary writings. He also made a study of the sources of quotations and episodes, under the title 唾餘新拾 T'o-yü hsin-shih, 10 chüan, with supplements. He reprinted the 蜀碑記 Shu-pei chi, 10 chüan, a collection of inscriptions on stone in Szechwan by the Sung scholar, Wang Hsiang-chih 王象之 (T. 儀文, chin-shih of 1196), with a supplement (pu) by himself in 10 chüan. [The Shu-pei chi was reprinted in 1869 by Hu Fêng-tan 胡鳳丹 (T. 月樵) with the latter's corrections, under the title Shu-pei chi pien-o k'ao-i (辨譌考異). Hu's work appears in his own collectanea, 金華叢書 Chin-hua ts'ung-shu, printed during the years 1869–82]. Li left several books of anecdotes about poetry (shih-hua 詩話) about various types of verse, the titles of which need not here be given. His notes on the drama were published under the title 劇話 Chü-hua,
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