Shan Hai Jing is an ancient book of China in the pre-Qin period. Generally speaking, it mainly describes ancient myths, geography, products, witchcraft, religion, ancient history, medicine, folk customs, nationalities and so on. 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. 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 author and completion time of Shan Hai Jing have not yet been determined. In the past, it was thought that it was written by Yu and Boyi, but it was not credible because it was recorded by Zhou and Qin people. 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.