Classic of Mountains and Seas 山海经
Paul PengThe Classic of Mountains and Seas
Legend has it that it originated in the remote age of Tang and Yu.
According to modern textual research, it was compiled around the Warring States Period or the Qin and Han dynasties, and was not the work of a single author at a single time.
Liu Xin of the Western Han Dynasty collated and edited it into eighteen chapters, and Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty wrote annotations for it.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas
Many ancient block-printed editions survive today: the book is included in such series as Ancient and Modern Unofficial Histories, Collectanea of the Four Branches of Literature, and Essential Works of the Four Branches of Literature.The edition in The Daozang comprises eighteen volumes, classified in the Taixuan Section, among which the 14th and 15th volumes are lost.
This book is a seminal ancient Chinese work of mythology and geography.
The original text includes five chapters of The Classic of the Five Storehouse Mountains, and thirteen chapters divided into The Classic of the Inner Seas, The Classic of the Outer Seas, and The Classic of the Great Wilderness. It mainly records mountains, rivers and geographical features, local customs and traditions, plants, birds and animals, natural products and mineral resources within and beyond the four seas and five directions, as well as myths, witchcraft and legends. Its narrative style is "fantastical and exaggerated, filled with strange and extraordinary remarks".
It has been widely circulated since the Qin and Han dynasties. Taoists and literati often drew materials from this book when creating immortal biographies and supernatural legendary novels. Hu Yinglin of the Ming Dynasty called it "the ancestor of all supernatural tales from ancient to modern times".
Since Guo Pu, countless scholars have collated and annotated this book through the ages. An Annotated Commentary on The Classic of Mountains and Seas by Hao Yixing of the Qing Dynasty and Collated Annotations on The Classic of Mountains and Seas by Yuan Ke, a modern scholar, are widely regarded as the finest annotated editions.
