Biography of Mu, also known as Biography of Zhou Muwang, is one of the bamboo books found in the tomb of the Western Warring States in Jixian County in the fifth year of the Western Jin Dynasty (AD 279). This is a book that records the history of Zhou Muwang's voyages to the West. The book records in detail the grand occasion of Zhou Muwang's 55-year reign, leading the army to March south and fight north. Called biography, it actually belongs to the chronology, and its style is roughly the same as that of later generations. Therefore, Sui Shu's Economic Annals and Tang Xinyi's Shu Wenzhi both listed it in the History Department.
At the beginning of Xun Xu's collation, Mu Zhuan was divided into five chapters. When Guo Pu annotated this book in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he added a chapter "The Death of Zhou Muwang Shengji" to become six volumes, which is an ancient version. This edition was compiled by Song people, which is incomplete compared with the ancient edition.
Shan Hai Jing is an ancient book of China in the pre-Qin period. It is generally believed that the main contents are ancient myths, geography, products, myths, witchcraft, religion, ancient history, medicine, folk customs and nationalities. Some scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing is not only a myth, but also an ancient geography, including some overseas mountains, rivers, birds and animals.
The author and completion time of Shan Hai Jing have not yet been determined. It used to be attributed to Dayu and Boyi. Modern China scholars generally believe that Shan Hai Jing was not written in a short time, nor was it written by one person. It was written by people from the early Warring States to Chu, Bashu, Dong, Qi and other places in the early Han Dynasty, and was not compiled into a book until the Western Han Dynasty. Many may come from oral legends.
The earliest edition of Shan Hai Jing was published by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin in the Western Han Dynasty. Guo Pu in Jin Dynasty annotated Shan Hai Jing, and Bi Yuan and Shan Hai Jing Zhu in Qing Dynasty also made textual research annotations.
There are eighteen volumes of Shan Hai Jing, including five volumes of Shan Jing, eight volumes of Hai Jing, four volumes of Ye Jing and one volume of Family Jing, with about 365,438+0,000 words. Recorded 100 information about geography, customs, products and other countries, 550 mountains, 300 waterways, and the scenery of various countries.
The basic source of ancient myths in China is the Classic of Mountains and Seas, among which the most famous stories are: chasing the sun, the goddess shooting for nine days, the Yellow Emperor fighting against Chiyou, the workers' anger caused a great flood in the surrounding mountains and rivers, the Gun stole the field to control water successfully, the Heaven Emperor seized the field and killed the gun, and finally Dayu succeeded in controlling water.
In addition, Shan Hai Jing also recorded some strange events in the form of a running account, and there is still a big debate about these events.
This book records these things one by one by region rather than by time. Most of the recorded things start from the south, then go west, then go north, and finally reach the central part of the mainland (Kyushu). Kyushu is surrounded by China's East Sea, West Sea, South China Sea and North Sea.
In ancient China, The Classic of Mountains and Seas has always been regarded as a historical reference book for historians in China. Because it has been written for a long time, even Sima Qian thought when he was writing historical records: "I dare not say anything about Yu Benji and the monsters in Shan Hai Jing."