The mountains and rivers recorded in Mountain Classic are richer than those recorded in Gong Yu. The length of the mountain recorded in Mountain Classic is *** 15000 words, which is equivalent to 14 times of the guide part of Gong Yu. Taking mountains as the key link, Mountain Classic comprehensively describes the complex geographical phenomena in the Yellow River Basin, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the vast areas of the Pearl River Delta. It is located in the west of Henan Province, centered on Zhongshan Jing. From then on, it is divided into five areas: Nannan Mountain Classic, Xixi Mountain Classic, Beibei Mountain Classic and Dongdong Mountain Classic. Each area is arranged in order with mountains as the key link. When describing each mountain range, it also describes the position, height, trend, steepness, shape, valley and its area of the mountain range, and pays attention to the correlation between the two mountains, some of which also involve vegetation coverage density, rain and snow. Obviously, it has a preliminary concept of mountain, which is the earliest mountain geography book in China. When describing a river, we must describe its origin and flow direction, and also pay attention to the tributaries of the river or the water system that flows into the tributaries, including some undercurrents and undercurrents of water, as well as records of salt ponds, lakes and Jing Quan.
In terms of the distribution of material resources, Shan Jing recorded minerals in particular, mentioned more than 400 mineral producing areas, recorded 89 kinds of mineral rocks, and divided them into four categories: gold, jade, stone and earth, which is the earliest mineral classification in the world. The Chronicle of Stones written by Greek scholar Theophrastus from 37 1 year to 285 BC is regarded as the earliest geological monograph in ancient Greece, but it only records 16 minerals, which are divided into three categories: gold, stone and earth, while the Mountain Classic recorded in the same period or later is five times as detailed. Shan Jing also noticed the phenomenon of mineral genesis, described the method of identifying minerals according to hardness, color, luster, transparency, structure, knocking sound and medicinal properties, and described the morphology, performance and medical efficacy of animals and plants in detail. Therefore, Shan Hai Jing has made outstanding contributions to mineralogical classification. Needham said: "The Classic of Mountains and Seas is a veritable treasure house, from which we can get a lot of knowledge about how the ancients knew minerals and drugs."
Shan Hai Jing is the oldest geography book in China and the oldest geography book in the world. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is also the best preserved ancient myth among the existing books in China. There are not only the largest number of myths recorded in Shan Hai Jing, but also most of them are primitive, and many of them have complete plots, which are rare in ancient books of the pre-Qin period and even later classics. It has important research value in mythology and religion, and also has important scientific value in ancient history, products and medicine.