Shanhaijing

The Shanhaijing 山海經, Traditional Book of the mounts and the seas or of the mountains and the seas is a collection of geographical data and legends of Chinese antiquity composed between the Royaumes combatants and the Han. Its principal editors, Liu Xiang and his/her son Western Liu Xin of Han, allotted it to Yu Large the or its assistant Bo Yi. It is still the primary source of the old Chinese myths very popular. Lu Xun evoked in Achang and Shanhaijing the pleasure that the reading in its childhood got some to him.

Evolution

The current version is primarily that of Han, with accompanying notes under the Jin by Guo Puzeng then under the Qing by Bi Yuan ( Shanhaijingjiaozheng and He Yixing ( Shanhaijingjianshu . Some estimate that elements could still be added to L `together of the time of Guo Puzeng.

The Shanhaijing contained at the origin of the still known illustrations at the 4th century, since CAT Yuanming mentions them in a poem. Some even think that the work was composed around them, the current text being a comment; they disappeared thereafter. The work was again illustrated under Qing.

Attribution with Yu the Large one or Bo Yi was disputed as of the Wei of North by Mandarin Li Daoyuan, which it first saw the trace of multiple authors there. Original attribution preserved nevertheless partisans a long time.

Composition

The Shanhaijing includes/understands 39 texts divided into 18 booklets, for a total of 31.000 characters. The unit is divided into four sections:

the Book of the mountains or Book of the mountains of the five treasures , in 5 booklets, represents two thirds of the work. Regarded as the oldest part, this section contains the most geographical information.
the Book of the seas in eight booklets;
the Livre of vast the wide savages in four booklets is regarded as most whimsical; it mentions an about sixty populated remote regions of fantastic beings.
the Book of the grounds between the seas in a booklet;

Geography

More than five hundred mountains, together with indications are mentioned concenant their low position, altitude, accessibility, form, zones, surface, and sometimes vegetation and snowing up. More than three hundred rivers are announced, with mention of their periods of low waters, of the close lakes and wells. Among the natural resources, animal, vegetable or mineral, these last are most frequently quoted: some three hundred sites and nearly 80 varieties divided into four categories (metal, jade, stone, ground), with their characteristics (glare, transparency etc). Joseph Needham underlined the value of this information; the Chinese historians place the authors of the Shanhaijing on the same plan as Théophraste, father of the Pétrologie. 　　

The world of the Shanhaijing offers a certain resemblance to that décit by Zou Yan: central grounds surrounded by four seas beyond whose grounds moved away are, the whole directed according to four directions around the center. Precise dimensions of the world “under the sky” are indicated there: 28 thousand lilies of are in west, 26 thousand of north in the south.

The places which could be identified distribute on a surface ranging between the middle price and lower of the yellow Fleuve, the Western Hunan, the archipelago Zhoushan (Zhejiang) and the coasts of the Guangdong. The most precise information is concentrated in a zone having current the Luoyang for center. They present a certain agreement with the indications of the Tribut of Yu , chapter of the Shangshu . One can thus suppose that it is primarily in this area that the work was written.

History and mythology

Under Qing, the Book of the mounts and seas was discredited like geographical reference book, but was not the subject of it less of two important editions with accompanying notes because of its literary interest. It is indeed the independent source of the legends of old China, probably considered as historical information by its writers. Nüwa repairs the sky broken, the Yi archer cuts down the nine suns, Chang' E flies away in the moon are three of the many myths brought back by the work. Some are only in the Shanhaijing , which became an essential material of study for the specialists in the mythology and the old Chinese folklore.

Place in the Chinese bibliography

One agrees to think that the Livre of the mounts and the seas was born like works geographical, historical and folk. For this reason, it was not the subject of the censure of the legists of the Dynastie Qin. Its first editors regarded it as a book of geography. The section Littérature of the Livre of Han curiously arranges it in the writings of the logicians and the legists. According to the Book of Han posterior , it is a technical work. Under Han Eastern, it was included in the reference books offered by the Mingdi emperor to Wang Jing, responsible for the fight against the floods. Its glosator of Jin, Guo Puzeng, sees a serious geographical reference there, and Li Daoyuan of Wei of North quotes it nearly 80 times in its work of geography. This reputation remains under the Sui and the Tang, but Hu Yinglin of the Ming sees a collection of fantastic stories there. The Sikuquanshu of Qing arranges it in the fictions.

At the 20th century, its geographical value was revalued by specialists like Gu Jiegang in Academia Sinica and Tan Qixie (1911 - 1992) in the Academy of Science in China, which thought of recognizing in the Northern section Livre of the mountains a rather good description of the old course of the yellow Fleuve.