Classic of Mountains and Seas
| Classic of Mountains and Seas | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 山海經 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 山海经 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Classic of Mountains and Seas" | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Classic of Mountains and Seas, 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. Early versions of the text may have existed since the 4th century BCE,[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.[citation needed] The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels.
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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.
English Translations
| Title | Publication Date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| The Classic of Mountains and Seas by Anne Birrell (Paperback) | January 1, 2001 | 978-0140447194 |
| A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through the Mountains and Seas by Richard Strassberg | June 17, 2002 (Hardcover); November 4, 2008 (Paperback) | 978-0520218444 (Hardcover); 978-0520298514 (Paperback) |
| Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas: A Chinese Classic by Jiankun Sun, Siyu Chen, Howard Goldblatt (Hardcover) | June 1, 2021 | 978-1950691388 |
See also
- 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
- ^ "Shan Hai Jing". Chinese Text Project.
- ^ Jonathan H. Ping; Brett McCormick (14 December 2015). China's Strategic Priorities. Routledge. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-1-134-59229-6.
- ^ Lewis, Mark Edward (2006). The Flood Myths of Early China. State University of New York. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7914-6663-6.
- ^ Mark Edward Lewis (2009). China's Cosmopolitan Empire: the Tang dynasty, Vol. 4 (illustrated ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-674-03306-1. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ^ Leo Bagrow, R. & A. Skelton (2009). History of cartography. Transaction Publishers. p. 204. ISBN 978-1-4128-1154-5.
- ^ a b Lust, John (1996). Chinese popular prints. Brill Publishers. p. 301. ISBN 90-04-10472-0.
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.
- 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). Vol. 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.
{{cite conference}}: Check|editor1=value (help) 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
External links
Media related to Shan Hai Jing at Wikimedia Commons- Original text (Traditional / Simplified)
- The Original Text (in Simplified Chinese)
- Shanhaijing 山海經, ChinaKnowledge
