Discoveries of Shen Zhou (Geographical Examination of "Shan Hai Jing")

Author: Fu Yongfa
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The Classic of Mountains and Seas is a comprehensive geographical text. Research has shown that the geography recorded in it aligns with the terrain of western Yunnan today, indicating that its geographical descriptions are accurate and reliable. Since the book records actual places, the people and events related to geography in it are naturally also historically credible. The Classic of Mountains and Seas focuses on the deeds of great figures from the dawn of Chinese history, such as Emperor Yan, Emperor Huang, Yao, and Yu. They lived and carried out their activities on Kunlun Mountain, and after their deaths, they were buried there. Clearly, they were not fictional mythological figures but real historical individuals. The places where they lived and operated were markers of ancient China: they lived and carried out their activities on Kunlun Mountain, and this ancient Kunlun Mountain is located in western Yunnan today. It is evident that ancient China was situated in western Yunnan rather than the traditional Yellow River Basin. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is even older than the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan. It is currently one of the oldest ancient Chinese texts, the only one that records the truth of the "Five Emperors" era. Research shows that the history of ancient China (the "Five Emperors" era) recorded in this book is accurate and trustworthy. The history of ancient China should be narrated based on the records in this book, which is the correct approach. Since Sima Qian could not understand the geography and the so-called "monsters" recorded in the book, he did not use the relevant historical materials from it. Instead, he used The Great Dao Rites·Emperor Genealogy, written in the early Western Han Dynasty, along with other materials, to compile Records of the Grand Historian·Biographies of the Five Emperors.