The Yellow Emperor 黃帝, for example, can be found out to have been a deity venerated in western China. Copy of the Harvard Yenching Institute, from Guangming zhi Men / 光明之門.Īlthough the stories told in the Shanhaijing are historically not reliable they are valuable sources for the study of early Chinese mythology, and eventually for the origin of certain parts of Chinese popular religion.
From Jiang Yinggao's 蔣應鎬 illustrated edition of the Shanhaijing, printed during the Chongzhen reign-period 崇禎 (1628-1644). This compound image shows a nine-tailed goat called bodan 猼訑 with four ears and eyes on the back, a cock called shangfu with three heads, six eyes, six feet, and three wings, a nine-tailed, man-eating fox, a dove called guanguan 灌灌, and a man-headed fish with a voice like a duck. Bizarre animals in the southern mountains Only when Guo Pu 郭璞 started compiling his commentary during the 4th century the supplements were dealt with as proper parts of the classic.įigure 1. The last two parts were originally supplements compiled by the Former Han period 漢 (206 BC-8 AD) scholars Liu Xiang 劉向 or Liu Xin 劉歆. It was probably written during the late 3rd or the 2nd centuries BCE. The second part deals with foreign countries and its inhabitants and contains a lot of mythological stories and tales about strange persons and animals. It was probably compiled during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. The first part deals with mountais and their nature and character, plants, animals and ores, all being features relevant for the ideal performance of Daoist shamans working there. The first two parts of the book can be seen as Daoist writings. 221 BCE) and Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) periods and is the product of a long time of compilation. Modern scholars believe that the book was compiled during the late Warring States 戰國 (5th cent. BCE), or Bo Yi 伯益, one of his ministers, or is said to be a chart of the ding 鼎 cauldrons Yu the Great erected in the provinces of China. Another arrangement divides the book into two parts, the Shanjing 山經 or Wucang shanjing 五藏山經 which consists of five geographical chapters, and the Haijing 海經 which consists of the parts Haiwaijing 海外經, Haineijing 海內經 (four chapters each) and Dahuangjing 大荒經 (five chapters).Īuthorship is traditionally attributed to Emperor Yu 禹, the mythological founder of the Xia dynasty 夏 (17th to 15th cent. The modern version has 18 juan "scrolls" and consists of four parts describing "mountains" ( Shanjing 山經), "seas" ( Haijing 海經), "the great wilderness" ( Dahuangjing 大荒經), and China herself ( Haineijing 海內經). Shanhaijing 山海經 "Classic of mountains and seas" is a kind of early geography of China.
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