![]() The Classic of Mountains and Rivers has 18 chapters (巻). It is not known why it was written or how it came to be viewed as an accurate geography book. In fact the information in the book is mythological. PurposeĮarlier Chinese scholars referred to it as a bestiary, but apparently assumed it was accurate. This account is a much more fanciful account than the depiction of him in the Classic of History. The account of him is in the last chapter, chapter 18, in the 2nd to last paragraph (roughly verse 40). A famous ancient Chinese myth from this book is that of Yu the Great, who spent years trying to control the deluge. It contains many short myths, and most rarely exceed a paragraph. Each chapter follows roughly the same formula, and the whole book is repetitious in this way. Many descriptions are very mundane, and an equal number are fanciful or strange. The descriptions are usually of medicines, animals, and geological features. 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. Later, Guo Pu, a scholar from the Western Jin, further annotated the work. The first known editor of the Classic was Liu Xiang from the Western Han, who among other things cataloged the Han imperial library. 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. It was originally thought that mythical figures such as Yu the Great or Boyi wrote the book. The exact author(s) of the book and the time it was written are still undetermined. The book is divided into eighteen sections it describes over 550 Is largely a fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre-QinĬhina as well as a collection of Chinese mythology. Not reached until the early Han dynasty a few centuries later. ![]() Have existed since the 4th century BC, but the present form was The Classic of Mountains and Seas or Shan Hai Jing, is a Chinese classic text and aĬompilation of mythic geography and myth. ![]() Date: 4 ears, 9 tails goat, eyes on back.
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