It was written by Chu people and Bashu people from the middle and late Warring States to the early Han Dynasty. Modern China scholars generally believe that The Classic of Mountains and Seas was not written for a while, nor was it written by one person. It's an ancient absurd book, and some people think it's an ancient landscape. They were edited by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin in the Western Han Dynasty. Hu Yinglin, a poet in the Song Dynasty, thought this book was "a result of the curious people who took Biography, Miscellanies of Zhuang, Biography, Lisao, Zhou Shu and Jincheng in the Warring States Period"? .
There are 18 articles in the book, and the Mountain Classic is a group of five articles, focusing on mountains and rivers in all directions. The narrative content includes ancient history, vegetation, birds and beasts, myths and religions. According to the orientation order of south, west, north, east and middle, each article is divided into several sections, and the previous section and the latter section are connected by related sentences, which makes the relationship between the sections very clear.
The five overseas classics in Hai Jing are a group, which mainly records the strange faces of overseas countries. There are five chapters in Haineijing, which mainly records the magical things in the sea, and five chapters in Yejing, which mainly records many important mythological materials related to Huangdi, Nuwa and Dayu, reflecting the heroic spirit of the Chinese nation. The organizational structure of each group on the sea classics has its own beginning and end, running through it, with an outline and a purpose. In addition to geographical location, it also records the appearance and customs of people from distant countries. 18 Haineijing is a summary of the geographical situation of Shanhaijing, which summarizes the geographical division, mountain system, water system and development zone distribution of China. Crop production; The invention of the well; Musical instrument production; National migration; River basin development and the basic pattern of Chinese mainland's stable development.
The book Shan Hai Jing records about 40 countries, 550 mountains, 300 waterways, more than 65,438+000 historical figures and more than 400 monsters. Books usually record these things one by one according to the region. Most of the recorded things started from the south (wild classics started from the east, so some scholars think that the orientation order of south, west, north and east is the same as that of ancient times, so wild classics started from the east, which may be revised and adjusted by later generations), then went west, then went north, and finally reached the central part of the mainland (Kyushu). Kyushu is surrounded by China's East Sea, West Sea, South China Sea and North Sea.
There are always different opinions about the geographical scope and related facts involved in Shan Hai Jing. Many scholars believe that it is a documentary record after a national geographical survey, some of which can be determined, such as the Yellow River, Weihe River and Huashan Mountain. Their geographical location is generally consistent with reality. In fact, even the Five Zang Mountain Classics do not conform to the overall pattern and actual mountains and rivers. So far, no one has been able to combine these mountains and rivers convincingly. Even when Sima Qian was writing Historical Records, he thought that the contents in Yu Benji and Shan Hai Jing were too absurd to be used as a reference for making history. It is pointed out in the Biography of Dawan that The Classic of Mountains and Seas is inconsistent with the actual geography at that time. However, some of the mountains and rivers described in the Five Zang Mountain Classics exist, especially the mountains in the Zhongshan Classics. The Five Tibetan Mountain Classics (Mountain Classics) was originally based on some real mountains and rivers, but in the barren polar regions, there is nothing we can do, and we can only make it up by imagination. When the Qing people compiled Sikuquanshu, they said it was the originator of straight novels. Into the history department, not allowed "; So I changed it to the novelist class of the deputy department.
Chapter structure
There are thirteen chapters of Shan Hai Jing in Ban Gu's Records of Han Shu Literature and Art, which ranks first in the category of "Form and Method" in "Introduction to Mathematical Methods", but this table is only for the purpose and its content is still early. Shan Hai Jing handed down from ancient times is short, with less than 32,000 words, including Shan Jing and Hai Jing.
Mountain Classic is divided into five parts: Nanshan Classic, Xishan Classic, Beishan Classic, Dongshan Classic and Zhongshan Classic, so Mountain Classic is also called Wuzangshan Classic (or Wuzangshan Classic, Tibetan and Tibetan are ancient and modern characters). Sea crystals are divided into overseas crystals, domestic crystals and wild crystals. Overseas classics include four parts: overseas southern classics, overseas western classics, overseas northern classics and overseas oriental classics. The Classic of the Sea consists of four parts: Nanjing, Xijing, Beijing and Tokyo. The Great Wilderness Classic consists of five parts: Great Wilderness East, Great Wilderness South, Great Wilderness West, Great Wilderness North and domestic classics.
The chapter structure of Shan Hai Jing is different from others. Except for the following five chapters of Yejing, its orientation development sequence is not the usual east, south, west and north, but the south, west, north and east that violate the normal laws. Based on this, Meng once pointed out that Shan Hai Jing was written by people in the ancient south (that is, Shu and Chu in Cuba), so the south was the first in the chapter arrangement, and later generations attacked it more. However, there are many pre-Qin classics, which have been combed by modern scholars and no similar cases have been found. Therefore, few people will accept this alone today.
Literary value
Shan Hai Jing is a book full of magical colors, with all-encompassing contents and rich valuable materials in geography, mythology, folklore, history of science, religion, ethnology, medicine and other disciplines. Its academic value involves many disciplines, and records a large number of natural geographical elements and human geographical contents in China at that time, such as mountains, hydrology, animals, medicine and so on.
geography
Although Shan Hai Jing is not a pure geography book, its geographical connotation is the first. It systematically describes the geographical features of various places from all directions, including natural geographical features and human geographical features.
First of all, Shan Hai Jing has a description of natural geography. This includes many mountains, such as "Mountain of the Great Hall", "Mountain of the Sun", "Mountain of the Castle Peak" and "Mountain of the White Tail". The name of each mountain depends on the landform of the mountain, and these mountains also reflect the trend of the mountain system; As well as rich hydrological records, most rivers record their sources and injection sites. The source of a river can be at the foot of a mountain, but its injection place is far from this mountain. The commentator also noticed the whole picture of the main stream of the river in the hydrological record. Although the channels of rivers are not recorded, some major rivers, such as the Yellow River and Weishui, can know their general flow areas, and many tributaries flow into their main roads. Shan Hai Jing recorded the floating river and the thistle river. The river that "dives" is the Fuliu River.
Secondly, Shan Hai Jing has a description of human geography. Hai Jing describes the social and cultural customs, economic development and scientific and technological achievements in some areas at that time. There are many stories about the development of our ancestral territory. For example, in Overseas North Classics, it is mentioned that "Minister * * * called Liu Xiang to write nine poems for food. When Liu arrived, he was named Zexi. When Yu killed Xiang Liu, it was bloody, so he could not grow grains. Yu Jue, three years old and three years old, thought it was the emperor's platform. North of Kunlun and east of Li Rou. Xiang Liu, nine faces, snake body and green. Dare not shoot north, afraid of the stage of * * *. In the east of Taiwan Province, there is a snake in the corner, tiger color, heading south. "
Therefore, some scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing is the first geographical record of China. ?
myth
Perhaps the most important value of Shan Hai Jing is that it preserves a large number of myths and legends, which are familiar to us, such as Kuafu's daily life, jingwei's land reclamation, the nine-day war, and the flood control by Yu, and many others are unfamiliar to people. For example, in overseas classics, there is such a passage: "Minister Gong * * * called Xiang Liu to eat nine poems. When Liu arrived, he was named Zexi. To kill Xiang Liu is bloody and can't grow grains. Yu Jue, three years old and three years old, thought it was the emperor's platform. North of Kunlun and east of Li Rou. Xiang Liu, nine faces, snake body and green. Dare not shoot north, afraid of the stage of * * *. Taiwan Province is in its east. On all sides of the platform, there is a snake in the corner, tiger color, facing south. " The legend of phase liu's murder by Yu is full of magical colors, which can be studied from the perspective of literature or myth, from which we can also see the relationship among workers, phase liu and tribes, thus showing the struggle between ancient ethnic tribes.
As a mythical document, Shan Hai Jing has at least three values:
1, which recorded seven ancient China myths to varying degrees;
2, leaving a reliable written basis about the space of the mythical world;
3. A large number of original objects condensed with original cultural information are preserved, which contains potential mythical value. For the classification of China myths, it is not appropriate to adopt the classification principle of western myths based on the process of human consciousness and spiritual growth, but should be based on its main content, basic spirit, internal structure and the important characteristics formed from it. There are few myths recorded in Shan Hai Jing (creation myth, tribal origin myth, cultural origin myth and so on). ) The things that trace back to the source are more heroic myths and tribal war myths, which to some extent reflect the basic characteristics of China's history and culture and the value orientation of cultural spirit.
folklore
This paper summarizes the folk value of Zhang in Shan Hai Jing, and the author discusses it from the following aspects: First, folk customs such as costumes, religious taboos and sacrifices are preserved in ancient landscape descriptions; Second, folk customs such as medicine and witchcraft have been preserved in the mountains and seas; Thirdly, a large number of ancient myths are preserved in the accounts of Shan Hai Jing.
The third textual research on Zhong's Carving through Teeth —— Aliens in Far Countries, from the perspective of folklore, makes a textual research on Aliens in the Classic of Mountains and Seas; Gong Zhebing's Feather Man, Chest-piercing Man, Toothcutter and Southern Folk Custom-An Anthropological Interpretation of Shan Hai Jing explains it through anthropological comparison, reduction and reconstruction. It embodies the diversity of research methods of Shan Hai Jing. It is worth noting that from the perspective of people's ideas at that time, the book believed that the internal world and the external world were divided at that time. The internal world is a familiar daily world, and the external world is a strange and grotesque world. Liu Zongdi's doctoral thesis "On the Relationship between the Wild and the Ancient Calendar System" reinterprets the above contents of Shan Hai Jing from the perspective of the ancient calendar system, which is an important achievement in the study of Shan Hai Jing. At the same time, Xu Xianzhi's Tracing to the Source, Zhang Yan's Classic of Mountains and Seas and ancient society, Wang Shancai and China culture all talked about ancient folk customs to varying degrees. ?
Religious studies
These myths and legends in Shan Hai Jing are precious materials for us to study primitive religions today. For example, Wuxian is in the north of the ugly girl, with a green snake in his right hand and a red snake in his left. In Deng Baoshan, witches' houses go from top to bottom. (Overseas Xijing) There is Lingshan, where Wu Xian, Wu Ji, Wu Pan, Wu Peng, Gu Wu, Zhen Wu, Wu Li, Wu Di, Wu Xie and Wu Luo all rise and fall, and all kinds of medicinal materials are here. (Wild West Classic)
In the myth of Shan Hai Jing, we can not only see the activities of wizards, but also see the beliefs and worship of ancient peoples. There are many records of magical animals in Shan Hai Jing, mainly birds, beasts, dragons, snakes, etc. They often have magical powers. These animals are probably the totem worship of the ancients. Such as the words in the overseas western classics quoted above. "Wu Xianguo is in Ugly North, with a green snake in his right hand and a red snake in his left." The snake may be the totem of Wuxian. Shan Hai Jing is an indispensable reference material for the study of ancient religious beliefs in China.
history
The myths and legends in Shan Hai Jing are not only myths and legends, but also history to some extent. Although their authenticity is greatly reduced because of their strong mythical color, they have left a shadow of history after all. Comparing several similar materials, we can sometimes see the true face of history. For example, the above-mentioned record of the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou in the Great Northern Wilderness Classic, excluding its mythical color, can show us a cruel war between ancient tribes, but it is extremely absurd and difficult to see its authenticity. Another example is the genealogy of the Yellow Emperor recorded in Wild West Classic and Haineijing: Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor, was born with Chang Yi. Changyi fell into the water, which gave birth to the Korean Wave. The Korean Wave bowed to its knees, respected its ears, its face, its beak, its body, its canals and its dolphins, and gave birth to Emperor Zhuan Xu with his brain. Zhuan Xu gave birth to old boys and old boys gave birth to Li. The emperor ordered Li Qiong (India) to return to heaven. The atmosphere is congested, and it is in the west pole, which enables it to travel around the sun, the moon and the stars. (Wild West Sutra) This pedigree is legendary and has the nature of a divine spectrum, but it is basically the same as Dadaixi Dipian, Historical Records of the Five Emperors and Huangfu Mi Imperial Century.
science
Shan Hai Jing is also a history of science and technology, which not only records the creative inventions and scientific practice activities of ancient scientists, but also reflects the scientific thinking at that time and the scientific and technological level that has been reached. For example, regarding agricultural production, Wild Sea Neijing records that "Hou Ji began to broadcast a hundred species" and "Uncle began to broadcast in Niu Geng". "Ye Bei Jing" contains: "Uncle is the ancestor of heaven." Regarding handicrafts, Wild Sea Classic says: "Righteousness is the beginning of cleverness and the beginning of people's ingenuity." Regarding astronomy and calendars, Wild Sea Classic said, "Choke twelve years old." "Wild West Sutra" says: "The emperor ordered Li Qiong to descend to earth again. The earth is the second place where you were born in the west pole, and you can walk the sun, the moon and the stars. " There are countless such records. The records of some natural phenomena are particularly precious and can't be seen in other books. For example, overseas classics say, "The God of Zhongshan is called Yin Candle. See it as day and night; Blow the horn of winter and call for the arrival of summer; Without drinking or eating, rest is the wind. It is thousands of miles long. In the nothingness of the East (starting from next month). It's a thing, a snake with a human face, red, and lives at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain. "
There are also records about the scientific and technological achievements of our ancestors in Shan Hai Jing. Shan Hai Jing records a large number of scientific and technological achievements of China's farming culture for thousands of years before Qin Dynasty. It also recorded the situation of agricultural production: "Between the black waters in the southwest, it is endless. Hou Ji likes glutinous rice, glutinous rice, glutinous millet and glutinous rice very much. A hundred grains are born by themselves, playing the piano in winter and summer. Love birds sings and the phoenix birds dance. Lingshou flowers and stones, vegetation gathered. " From these primitive farming cultures, we can see people's scientific and technological production level and achievements at that time. There are many records about water conservancy, vehicle and boat manufacturing, cattle use, music and dance and pot throwing games in Shan Hai Jing. ?
Many contemporary scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing records the polar phenomenon that the North Pole is day for half a year and night for half a year here, but the ancients can't explain this phenomenon, so they use myths to explain it. This kind of record is undoubtedly valuable scientific information. There are many similar examples.
literature
The literary value of Shan Hai Jing is rich and varied, which can be explored from many aspects. At least we can interpret and explore the literary value of Shan Hai Jing from the perspectives of the influence of mythical thinking (that is, primitive thinking) on the romantic literary creation tradition, the expression of primitive logic, the rich emotional experience in humanistic care, and the pragmatic aesthetic judgment. Shan Hai Jing contains rich mythical thinking, which has a great and far-reaching influence on the romantic literary creation tradition. Studying mythical thinking deeply and revealing this influence will not only help to explore the deep-seated influencing factors of the formation of romantic literary creation tradition from the source, but also help to understand the law of the formation and development of various literary phenomena.
In The Classic of Mountains and Seas, we can explore the influence of mythical thinking on the tradition of romantic literary creation from at least three aspects:
1, the influence of rich intuitive imagination and great imagination on the creation of romantic literary works;
2. Myths and legends with rich mythological thinking often become the creative material of romantic literature;
3. The original life view of mythical thinking has a profound influence on romantic literary creation.
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