Discoveries of China: A Geographical Study of the Classic of Mountains and Seas (3rd Edition)

Author: Fu Yongfa
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The Classic of Mountains and Seas is a comprehensive geographical book. Research has shown that the geography recorded in it aligns with the terrain of western Yunnan today, indicating that its geographical records 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 recording the deeds of great figures from the dawn of Chinese history, such as Emperor Yan, Emperor Huang, Yao, and Yu. They lived anded on Kunlun Mountain and were buried there after death. Clearly, they were not fictional mythological figures but real historical individuals. The places where they lived anded are the of ancient China: they lived anded 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, not in the traditional Yellow River Basin as commonly believed. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is older than the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan. It is currently the oldest ancient Chinese classic that uniquely records the truth of the "Five Emperors" era. Research shows that the history of ancient China (the "Five Emperors" era) recorded in the book is accurate and trustworthy. The history of ancient China should be narrated based on the records in this book to be correct. 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 Dai Rites·Emperor Genealogy, written in the early Western Han Dynasty, and other materials to compile Records of the Grand Historian·Biographies of the Five Emperors.