We know that The Classic of Mountains and Seas was compiled by middle schools from the Warring States to the Han Dynasty, which is too far away from modern times. At first, it was regarded as a strange ancient book, but with the discovery of some strange animals in Shan Hai Jing, some people found that Shan Hai Jing was not a completely fictional material.
Shan Hai Jing recorded puffer fish, giant salamander, parrot and other animals. Some descriptions of these animals are anthropomorphic, while others combine the characteristics of many other common animals. In the eyes of some people, this is an impossible animal. It is precisely because of people's subjective concept that mountain and sea classics are regarded as strange things, and no one has really studied the animals in them. With the development of modern science and technology, some scholars have found that some animals recorded in Shan Hai Jing are real.
Shan Hai Jing is an important ancient book in the pre-Qin period of China, and it is also the oldest wonderful book full of myths and legends. The author of the book is unknown. Modern scholars think that this book was not written in a moment, and the author is not alone.
The edition of Shan Hai Jing is complicated. The handed down version is 18, including 5 volumes of Mountain Scenery and 3 volumes of Sea Classic 13. The age of each volume is unknown, of which 14 is the work of the Warring States period and 4 is the work of the early Western Han Dynasty.
It can be seen that the earliest edition is Shan Hai Jing written 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 its real author, some predecessors thought it was Yu and Bo Yi, and it was edited by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin in the Western Han Dynasty that the book was handed down from generation to generation. Nowadays, many people think that there is no way to confirm the specific writing date and author.