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. It records more than 100 countries, 550 mountains, 300 waterways and the geography, customs and products of various countries (much like an encyclopedia).
The basic source of ancient myths in China is The Classic of Mountains and Seas (the earliest mythological novel), among which the most famous ones are: Kuafu chasing the sun, the goddess shooting the sky for nine days, the Yellow Emperor fighting against Chiyou, the angry workers around the mountains and rivers, causing floods (see Noah's Ark), the successful control of water by guns stealing loam, and the Emperor taking back loam to kill guns. 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.