The Classic of Mountains and Seas
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang, Liu Xin and Wang Chong believed that The Classic of Mountains and Seas was written by Dayu and Boyi, but people found the historical facts after Dayu and Boyi in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, so "Yu told it" was questioned. Since then, although Yan Zhitui of Sui Dynasty insisted on the old theory, he had to use "later generations fell into it, not this article" to cover up the loopholes that were difficult to cover up. Therefore, the author of Shan Hai Jing has become the object of textual research by many scholars, and various hypotheses have emerged one after another, such as "Yi Jian's Zuo Shuo"; Zou Yan said; Later generations integrated the legends of the Chinese people. Southern Chu people said; Bashu people speak; The early alchemists said, wait. Yuan Ke, a contemporary scholar, believes that Shan Hai Jing is actually the work of an anonymous person, not written by one person at a time. Although the above statements are different, they all affirm that the author of Shan Hai Jing is from China. What is intriguing, however, is that the debate about the author of Shan Hai Jing does not stop there. Some scholars, especially foreign scholars, have carefully analyzed and studied the contents of Shan Hai Jing, and extended the perspective of tracing the author to foreign countries, and reached surprising conclusions. They say Shan Hai Jing was not written by China people, but the real author is probably a foreigner. This statement is like the bizarre myth in Shan Hai Jing, which is an eye-opener! So, what is the basis of their conclusion? Ma Bole, a French sinologist, believes that the geographical system described in Shan Hai Jing was stimulated and influenced by the Indian and Iranian cultural trends from outside in the 5th century BC. The implication is that the author of Shan Hai Jing may be an Indian or an Iranian. Juxian Wei, a Hong Kong scholar, further clarified in the Study of Ancient History that the author of Shan Hai Jing was an Indian named Sui Chaozi. When Su (published in Taipei from 65438 to 0978), the author of Qu Yuan and Nine Songs, mentioned Shan Hai Jing, he pushed the author's territory further westward to Babylon. In his view, The Classic of Mountains and Seas is a geography book about the two river basins in Arabian Peninsula, which was originally written by Babylonians and brought to China by Persians during the Warring States Period. Some of the contents about the geography of China were mixed in by later generations. He also thinks that Shan Hai Jing may also be Zou Yan's lecture notes, which were recorded by his disciples, not by one person.
Looking for gods
China's collection of ancient strange stories. Eastern Jin Gan Bao (? ~ 336) compilation. Gan Bao was born in Xincai (now Henan). Historians in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty. He once led the history of the country as a writer and wrote Jin Ji, which has been lost. The Book of Jin, The Biography of Gambao, said that he had some feelings about life and death. "So he wrote a collection of changes in ancient and modern miraculous characters, called Searching for the Gods." The search for God has been lost. This book was compiled and acquired by later generations. Twenty volumes. * * * There are 454 stories. Most of the records are strange things of immortals, and some of them belong to folklore. Among them, Li Ji and his wife, Han Ping, the daughter of the prince of Wu, and so on. Exposing the cruelty of the ruling class and praising the struggle of the rebels are often quoted by later generations. Most stories are short in length, simple in plot, fantastic in imagination and full of romanticism. Later, Tao Qian's Epilogue of Searching for God and Binwen Zhang's Search for Mystery, both of which have a volume of 10, are imitations of Searching for God. Searching for the Gods has a far-reaching influence on later generations, such as The Story of the Tang Dynasty, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio by Pu Songling, Fairy Tales, and many later novels and operas, all of which are closely related to it.