Shan Hai Jing is an ancient book in the pre-Qin period and the oldest geography book full of myths and legends. Mainly describes ancient geography, products, myths, witchcraft, religion, as well as ancient history, medicine, folk customs, ethnic groups and so on. 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. The most representative myths and fables are daily life, goddess mending the sky, jingwei filling the sea, and Yu harnessing the water.
There are 18 articles in Shan Hai Jing, and it is said that the original 22 articles are about 32,650 words. * * * There are 5 Tibetan Mountain Classics, 4 overseas Classics, 5 domestic Classics and 4 Wild Classics. Hanshu 13, excluding Ye Jing and Jia Jing. The contents of the book are as follows: 5 chapters of the Five Classics of Tibetan Mountain and 4 chapters of overseas classics are a group; There are 4 chapters in Haineijing; The five wilderness classics at the end of the book and 1 domestic classics are considered as a group. The organizational structure of each group has its own starting point and ending point, which runs through the whole process and has a purpose. A group of Five Classics of Tibetan Mountain is divided into chapters in the order of south, west, north, east and middle, and each chapter is divided into several sections. The former section and the latter section are connected by related sentences, which makes the relationship between the sections very clear. The Tibetan Mountain Classic mainly records the distribution of mountains, rivers, animals, plants and minerals. The overseas classics in Hai Jing mainly record the peculiar features of overseas countries. Haineijing mainly records the magical things in the sea; Huangdi Neijing mainly records many important mythological materials related to Huangdi, Nu Wa and Dayu.
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 In ancient China, The Classic of Mountains and Seas has always been regarded as a historical reference book for historians in China.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." It is of great value to the study of ancient history, geography, culture, Chinese and foreign transportation, folk customs and myths.