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Shan Hai Jing

 
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Shan Hai Jing
 
 
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Shan Hai Jing is a Chinese classic text that is at least 2,000 years old. It is largely a fabled geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin
Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty was preceded by the feudal Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. The unification of China in 221 BCE under the Qin Shi Huang marked the beginning of Imperial China, a period which lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 CE....
 China as well as a collection of mythology
Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
. The book is about 31,000 words long, and is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountain
Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s and 300 channels
Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
.

exact author of the book and the time it was written at is still undetermined.






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Nvwa
Shan Hai Jing is a Chinese classic text that is at least 2,000 years old. It is largely a fabled geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin
Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty was preceded by the feudal Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. The unification of China in 221 BCE under the Qin Shi Huang marked the beginning of Imperial China, a period which lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 CE....
 China as well as a collection of mythology
Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
. The book is about 31,000 words long, and is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountain
Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s and 300 channels
Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
.

Authorship

The exact author of the book and the time it was written at is still undetermined. It was originally thought that mythical figures such as Yu the Great or Boyi wrote the book. However, the consensus among modern Chinese
Culture of China

The Culture of China is one of the world's oldest and most complex cultures. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and Province ....
 scholars is that this 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
Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins....
.

Its first known editor was Liu Xiang
Liu Xiang (author)

Liu Xiang born Liu Gengsheng , courtesy name Zizheng , was a famous Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty. He was born in Xuzhou and related to Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty....
  from the Western Han, who was connected to several works on Confucian classics. Later Guo Pu
Guo Pu

Guo Pu , courtesy name Jingchun , born in Yuncheng, was a noted natural historian and also a versatile and prolific writer of the J?n Dynasty ....
, a scholar from the Western Jin
Jìn Dynasty (265-420)

The J?n Dynasty , one of the Six Dynasties, followed the Three Kingdoms period and preceded the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. The dynasty was founded by the Sima family ....
, made a further annotation to it, including a few others.

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 extremely repetitious in this way.

It does contains many short myths, and most rarely exceed a paragraph. The most famous ancient Chinese
Culture of China

The Culture of China is one of the world's oldest and most complex cultures. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and Province ....
 myth from this book is that of the ancient Chinese figures, such as Great Yu, 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
Classic of History

The Classic of History is a compilation of documentary records related to events in ancient history of China. It is also commonly known as the Sh?ngshu , or simply Shu ....
. In Anne Birrell's translation, Nüwa
Nüwa

In Chinese mythology, N?wa is a mythological character best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven. Other later traditions attribute the creation to either Pangu or Yu Huang....
 is not present in a flood story, but another account of her is very briefly touched on in chapter 16.

Evaluation

Generally, the book is considered mythological classic. Earlier Chinese scholars referred to it as a bestiary, but apparently assumed it was accurate. In the field of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact describes alleged interactions between the indigenous peoples of the Americas and peoples of other continents ? Africa, Asia, Europe, or Oceania ? pre-Columbian the Voyages of Christopher Columbus#First voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492....
, one author, Henriette Mertz (1972) proposes that the Shanhai jing records ancient Chinese travels in the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
, and associates the mythical Fusang
Fusang

Fusang or Fousang is a country described by the China Buddhism missionary Hui Shen in 499 CE, as a place 20,000 Chinese Li east of Da-Han, and also east of China....
 with Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
.

Contents

The Shanhaijing has 18 chapters. Chapter 4 has 12 subsections, 2 and 4 have four, and chapters 1 and 3 have three.














































































Chapter Chinese Pinyin
Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
 		Translation
1 ???Nanshan jingClassic of the Mountains: South
2 ???Xishan jingClassic of the Mountains: West
3 ???Beishan jingClassic of the Mountains: North
4 ???Dongshan jingClassic of the Mountains: East
5 ???Zhongshan jingClassic of the Mountains: Central
6 ????Haiwainan jingClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: South
7????Haiwaixi jingClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: West
8????Haiwaibei jingClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: North
9????Haiwaidong jingClassic of Regions Beyond the Seas: East
10????Haineinan jingClassic of Regions Within the Seas: South
11????Haineixi jingClassic of Regions Within the Seas: West
12????Haineibei jingClassic of Regions Within the Seas: North
13????Haineidong jingClassic of Regions Within the Seas: East
14????Dahuangdong jingClassic of the Great Wilderness: East
15????Dahuangnan jingClassic of the Great Wilderness: South
16????Dahuangxi jingClassic of the Great Wilderness: West
17????Dahuangbei jingClassic of the Great Wilderness: North
18???Hainei jingClassic of Regions Within the Seas


External links

  • , ChinaKnowledge


comparisons of this Classic of Mountain and Seas with :-