Classic Illustrations of the Classic of Mountains and Seas

Author: Wang Hongqi, Sun Xiaoqin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Let us together appreciate this profound and extensive work, the ancient masterpiece and national treasure of China, the Shan Hai Jing. This book records the splendid journey of Chinese civilization. The Shan Hai Jing was compiled over two thousand years and has been publicly circulated for another two thousand years since then. The era in which it was created was not primordial, as it was a work produced after the maturation of writing, with over thirty thousand characters in total. The language is concise and accurate, mostly consisting of declarative sentences—simply stating what is. The Shan Hai Jing is a treasure of ancient Chinese culture. From the Warring States period to the early Han dynasty, it has been recognized as a remarkable book. It is called a remarkable book for two reasons: first, within its three thousand one hundred and ten words, it records approximately forty states, five hundred and fifty mountains, three hundred waterways, over one hundred historical figures, and more than four hundred mythical creatures and fearsome beasts. The Shan Hai Jing combines a geographical record, a record of local flora and fauna (minerals, plants, and animals), an ethnic record, and a folk customs record. It is not only a book of shamanism but also preserves a vast amount of primal myths of the Chinese nation. Second, it pioneered the tradition of narrative works with both illustrations and text in China, and its vivid diversity is reflected in the illustrations of the Shan Hai Jing. In ancient times, books often included both illustrations and text, and the combination of images and words was a long-standing tradition in China. Over fifteen hundred years ago, the famous Jin dynasty poet Tao Yuanming wrote the line "flowing images of mountains and seas," and Guo Ling of the Jin dynasty composed a praise poem for the illustrations of the Shan Hai Jing. In his annotations to the Shan Hai Jing, he mentioned that "the illustrations were shaped like oxen" and "were among the fearsome beasts," and "the modern illustrations are shaped like red birds," indicating that the Shan Hai Jing still had illustrations during the Jin dynasty. Moreover, in the text of the Shan Hai Jing, some descriptions of directions and human actions clearly show that they were explanations of illustrations (e.g., in the "Great Wilderness East" section, it records Wang Hai: "holding birds in both hands, eating their heads"; in the "Foreign West" section: "Kaiming beast standing eastward on Kunlun"). Unfortunately, the illustrations of the Shan Hai Jing that Tao and Guo saw have not been passed down. However, it is certain that the Shan Hai Jing had illustrations. It (or some of its main parts) was a book that was written based on illustrations (with illustrations preceding the text). The ancient illustrations have been lost, but the text has been preserved, which is what we see today as the Shan Hai Jing.