Shan Hai Jing is an ancient book of China, written by Chu or Bashu people from the middle and late Warring States Period to the early Han Dynasty. It is also a fantastic book.
Ancient and modern scholars have different understandings of the content and nature of Shan Hai Jing. For example, Sima Qian bluntly said that its content was too absurd to be used as a reference for making history. For example, Lu Xun thought it was "the book of wizards and alchemists". At present, most scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing is an early and valuable geographical work.
Shan Hai Jing is an expanded material with important literature value, which provides a reference for the study of China's ancient history, geography, culture, Chinese and foreign transportation, folk customs and myths, among which the mineral records are the earliest related documents in the world. ?
The edition of Shan Hai Jing is complicated, so the earliest edition is Shan Hai Jing Zhuan by Guo Pu in Jin Dynasty. But when it comes to Historical Records, the title of Shan Hai Jing, the earliest bibliography is Hanshu Yiwenzhi.
As for the real author of this book, many predecessors thought that it was Yu, Bo Yi, and was collated by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin in the Western Han Dynasty before it was handed down from generation to generation. Nowadays, many people think that the exact date and author of this book cannot be confirmed.
Shan Hai Jing also recorded China's ancient myths, geography, plants, animals, minerals, products, witchcraft, religion, medicine, folk customs and nationalities. The cultural phenomena reflected are all-encompassing. In addition to preserving rich mythological materials, it also involves many academic fields.
For example: philosophy, aesthetics, religion, history, geography, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, animals, plants, minerals, folklore, ethnology, geology, oceanography, psychology, anthropology and so on. It can be said that Wang Yang is a vast place, just like the sea and the sun.
In the case of underdeveloped ancient culture, science and technology and transportation, Shan Hai Jing is a wonderful book with the most myths recorded in China, and it is also an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge.
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