In the ancient four-part classification, it was either regarded as the geography of mountains and rivers (the geography of the history department) or regarded as a book of natural history (the novel of the division). With the introduction of modern western knowledge system, the understanding of Shan Hai Jing has also broken through the previous framework.
Lu Xun, a writer, regarded it as an ancient "sorcerer's book" because it recorded the ritual of ancient wizards worshiping gods and hating ghosts; Mythologists regard it as an ancient myth, which has entrusted the fantastic and magnificent imagination of Chinese ancestors. It is generally believed that the book covers ancient myths, geography, animals, plants, minerals, witchcraft, religion, history, medicine, folk customs, nationalities and so on.
Shan Hai Jing records many monsters in folklore, strange and bizarre legends. It has always been regarded as a book of strange stories. Some people think that the things recorded in this book are absurd and incredible, but others are sure of its value in textual research on strange things and different customs and the situation of mountains and rivers.
Some contemporary scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing is not only a myth, but also an exploration record of ancient geography, including the genealogy of some ancient clans, and it is a work with historical value.
Shan Hai Jing has pictures, and its words may be described according to the contents of the pictures. However, the ancient map has disappeared, and the 10 Volume 242 Mountain and Sea Classic Map, which was drawn by Zhang Sengyou in the Southern Dynasties and redrawn by Shu Ya in the Song Dynasty, has not been handed down. The earliest existing map of mountains and seas was written by Hu and Jiang in the Ming Dynasty.
At present, there are 18 mountain and sea classics annotated by Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty, with more than 30,000 words, including Five Zangshan Five Classics, Four Classics Abroad, Four Classics in the Great Wilderness and 1 Classics at home. Wu Renchen, Bi Yuan, Hao Yixing and Wu Chengzhi are important annotators of this book.
Shanhaitu
There are pictures of ancient mountain and sea classics. Guo Pu wrote "Praise of Mountain and Sea Classics" and called the pictures of mountain and sea classics he saw "fear of animals". Tao Yuanming's poems include Looking at the Mountains and Seas. The ancient map of Shan Hai Jing has disappeared, and the 10 Volume 242 Shan Hai Jing Tu, which was drawn by Zhang Sengyou in the Six Dynasties and redrawn by Shu Ya in the Song Dynasty, has not been handed down.
The earliest existing map of mountains and seas was written by Hu and Jiang in the Ming Dynasty. During the Edo period (1603- 1867, equivalent to the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China), there were many images in the Atlas of Strange Birds and Animals published according to the map of Shan Hai Jing in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Wu Renchen's Mountain and Sea Map was the earliest and most widely circulated.
This book tells itself that its pictures originated from Shu Ya's heavy picture books, but only 144 pictures of its "weird" people are arranged in five categories: spirit, exoticism, orcs, feathered birds and scaly interfaces.
What happened afterwards? Bi yuan? Hao Yixing used this map as a copy. According to Ma Changyi's textual research, Wu Renchen's Atlas contains 7 1 map, all or most of which are taken from Hu's Atlas. In addition, there are 407 images of Wang Biaoben, most of which are ingenious, and they are rarely the same as other maps of mountains and seas in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Japanese scholar Song pointed out in the Comparative Study of Shan Hai Jing that both overseas classics and wild classics contain descriptions of pictures (that is, they are written for pictures). Overseas classics "strip" a huge map in sequence, while wild classics are based on pictures, which are probably pictures of a single god or animal.
Ma Changyi, a researcher at the Institute of Literature, China Academy of Social Sciences, selected 1000 mountain and sea classics from the nine existing ones, and combined with them, compiled the Illustration of Ancient Mountain and Sea Classics, which is an important work for studying mountain and sea classics at present.