Classic of Mountains and Seas

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Chinese: 山海经), also known as Shan Hai Jing,[1] formerly romanized as the Shan-hai Ching,[2] is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography[3][4] and beasts. Versions of the text may have existed since as early as the 4th century BC,[5][6] but the present form was not reached until the early Han dynasty a few centuries later.[6] It is largely a fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin China as well as a collection of Chinese mythology. The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels.

Classic of Mountains and Seas
Traditional Chinese山海經
Simplified Chinese山海经
Literal meaning"Classic of Mountains and Seas"
Classic of Mountains and Seas illustration of a nine-headed phoenix (colored Qing dynasty edition)
Classic of Mountains and Seas illustration of Nüwa
Classic of Mountains and Seas illustration of Nine-tailed Fox, companion of the Queen Mother of the West

Authorship

The exact author(s) of the book and the time it was written are still undetermined. It was originally thought that mythical figures such as Yu the Great or Boyi wrote the book. However, the consensus among modern Sinologists is that the book was not written at a single time by a single author, but rather by numerous people from the period of the Warring States to the beginning of the Han dynasty.

The first known editor of the Classic was Liu Xiang from the Western Han, who among other things cataloged the Han imperial library. Later, Guo Pu, a scholar from the Western Jin, further annotated the work.

Overview

The book is not a narrative, as the "plot" involves detailed descriptions of locations in the cardinal directions of the Mountains, Regions Beyond Seas, Regions Within Seas, and Wilderness. The descriptions are usually of medicines, animals, and geological features. Many descriptions are very mundane, and an equal number are fanciful or strange. Each chapter follows roughly the same formula, and the whole book is repetitious in this way.

It contains many short myths, and most rarely exceed a paragraph. A famous ancient Chinese myth from this book is that of Yu the Great, who spent years trying to control the deluge. The account of him is in the last chapter, chapter 18, in the 2nd to last paragraph (roughly verse 40). This account is a much more fanciful account than the depiction of him in the Classic of History.

Purpose

Earlier Chinese scholars referred to it as a bestiary, but apparently assumed it was accurate. In fact the information in the book is mythological. It is not known why it was written or how it came to be viewed as an accurate geography book.

Contents

The Classic of Mountains and Rivers has 18 chapters (巻). Chapter 4 has 12 subsections (次一), 2 and 4 have four, and chapters 1 and 3 have three.

ChapterChineseMandarin PinyinTranslation
1南山經Nánshān JīngClassic of the Mountains: South
2西山經Xīshān JīngClassic of the Mountains: West
3北山經Běishān JīngClassic of the Mountains: North
4東山經Dōngshān JīngClassic of the Mountains: East
5中山經Zhōngshān JīngClassic of the Mountains: Central
6海外南經Hǎiwàinán JīngClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: South
7海外西經Hǎiwàixī JīngClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: West
8海外北經Hǎiwàiběi JīngClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: North
9海外東經Hǎiwàidōng JīngClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: East
10海內南經Hǎinèinán JīngClassic of Regions Within the Seas: South
11海內西經Hǎinèixī JīngClassic of Regions Within the Seas: West
12海內北經Hǎinèiběi JīngClassic of Regions Within the Seas: North
13海內東經Hǎinèidōng JīngClassic of Regions Within the Seas: East
14大荒東經Dàhuāngdōng JīngClassic of the Great Wilderness: East
15大荒南經Dàhuāngnán JīngClassic of the Great Wilderness: South
16大荒西經Dàhuāngxī JīngClassic of the Great Wilderness: West
17大荒北經Dàhuāngběi JīngClassic of the Great Wilderness: North
18海內經Hǎinèi JīngClassic of Regions Within the Seas

All 18 chapters can be classified into 4 categories: Classic of the Mountains (contents 5 chapters), Classic of the Seas (contents 8 chapters), Classic of the Great Wilderness (contents 4 chapters), and Classic of Regions Within the Seas (contents 1 chapter). It recorded more than 100 diplomatically related realms, 550 mountains and 300 rivers, along with the geographic and cultural information of the nearby realms. The Classic of Mountains and Seas also recorded up to 277 different animals. Scholars believe the records of animals in Classic of the Mountains are somewhat exaggerated due to the long history of people compiling them in different dynasties; yet they still have a certain degree of authority, because they were generally written by sorcerers and Fangshi based on the experiences they gained from their trips.

The ancient Chinese treated the Classic as a record of geography.[7] The Classic was classified under the category of geography in both Book of Sui and Comprehensive Examination of Literature of Duanlin Ma. It was also an important reference material of Chinese historians through the long history of China.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas is also the source and origin of the ancient Chinese mythology. Some of them are popular and well known in Asian culture, such as Kua Fu, Nüwa, Houyi and Yellow Emperor. There were up to 450 gods and deities mentioned in Classic and they used something called Jingmi (精米) or Jing (糈) which is similar to sorcery.

Chinese scholar Ming Hua Zhang claimed that the Zhulong, which was a mythical creature mentioned in Classic of the Great Wilderness: North, is symbolizing the aurora (northern light).[8] The Zhulong is (according to Classic) "red, with a human face and a snake body that is thousand mile long. It is the god of Zhong Mountain." He believes that this description matches with the characteristics of aurora.

gollark: What do you want to do?
gollark: Down with golang!
gollark: That's possible via GPS or dynmap hackery.
gollark: Hi.
gollark: API for what?

See also

Media related to Shan Hai Jing at Wikimedia Commons

  • Bai Ze - titular figure of the lost treatise on demonology which has similarities to some of the Shanhaijing.
  • Shi Yi Ji (拾遺记) by Wang Jia - a 4th-century work containing "apocryphal" versions of some of the stories in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

References
  1. "Shan Hai Jing". Chinese Text Project.
  2. Jonathan H. Ping; Brett McCormick (14 December 2015). China's Strategic Priorities. Routledge. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-1-134-59229-6.
  3. Lewis, Mark Edward (2006). The Flood Myths of Early China. State University of New York. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7914-6663-6.
  4. Mark Edward Lewis (2009). China's Cosmopolitan Empire: the Tang dynasty, Vol. 4 (illustrated ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-674-03306-X. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  5. Leo Bagrow, R. & A. Skelton (2009). History of cartography. Transaction Publishers. p. 204. ISBN 1-4128-1154-6.
  6. Lust, John (1996). Chinese popular prints. Brill Publishers. p. 301. ISBN 90-04-10472-0.
  7. 「在《家語》成書時人們已承認《山海經》是一部地理書了 」 "During the era of Confucius, people already viewed the as a book of geography."（Lui, Zi Feng. (1997.) 讀〈山海經〉雜記. pg.5. ）
  8. 四川省社會科學院 (1986) 山海經新探 (pg 308-314) 成都市. 後收錄《學林漫錄》第8集

Further reading
  • Birrell, Anne, ed. (1999). The Classic of Mountains and Seas. Translated by Anne Birrell (illustrated ed.). Penguin. ISBN 0140447199. Retrieved 24 April 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Davydov, Andrey (July 2013) [Composed 2002]. "Шань Хай Цзин" и "И Цзин" - Карта Психофизиологической Структуры Человека? ["Shan Hai Jing" and "I Ching" - Map of Human Psychophysiological Structure?] (in Russian). ISBN 9781301510009.
  • Fedoruk, V. V.; Davydov, A. N. (1998) [Composed 1997]. Corr. of RAO L. A. Verbitskaya; Assoc. Prof. B. G. Sokolova (eds.). Шань Хай Цзин - Своеобразный Каталог Психо-Физической Структуры Человека? [Is Shan Hai Jing The Original Catalog Of Psychophysiological Human Structure?]. First Russian Philosophical Convention. Human Being – Philosophy – Humanism (in Russian). Volume VII. Philosophy and Human Problem. St. Petersburg: SPSU Publishing House. p. 355, p. 488. ISBN 9785288018947. B4231.R6751997. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014. Alt URL
  • Fracasso, Riccardo. 1996. "Libro dei monti e dei mari (Shanhai jing): Cosmografia e mitologia nella Cina Antica." Venice: Marsilio. ISBN 88-317-6472-1
  • Mathieu, Remi. 1983. "Etude sur la mythologie et l'ethnologie de la Chine Ancienne." Vol I, "Traduction annotee du Shanhai Jing." Vol. II, "Index du Shanhai jing." Paris: College de France, Institut des hautes etudes Chinoises.
  • Schiffeler, John Wm. 1978. The Legendary Creatures of the Shan hai ching. Hwa Kang. ASIN B0007AP1OI
  • Strassberg, Richard. 2002. A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21844-2
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