In addition, in many versions of the book, the mythological bird Bifang is often described in written texts as “with one human’s face and one foot.” Many interpreters of the book, such as Wu Chengzhi, Hao Yixing, Yuan Ke, all agree that the recording is not accurate and the word “human-faced” is a misprint.

For example, the author maintains that there was an intimate connection between the production of illustrated Shanhaijing and the iconology narrative tradition, which can easily be found in cliff paintings, bronze paintings, and funeral stone carvings especially prevailing in and before Han dynasty. In Ma’s two books, inspiring arguments and deep insights can readily be found on many pages. New perspectives and materials often stimulate novel thoughts. Based on this book, A Comparison further enlarged the scope to 14 versions, including one reprinted in Japan in about the 17 th century to the middle of 19 th century. In An Interpretation, Ma selected 1,000 drawings of spirits, monsters, and mythological animals from 2,000 illustrations she found in 10 reprinted versions from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and then compared them with their counterparts and the related written texts. By reframing the study as a narrative tradition combining both iconology and literal texts, the author tries to discover the interrelationship between the illustrations and relevant written texts, to further explore the illustrated mythological world among archaic Chinese. She has spent considerable time and money, collecting those precious illustrations scattered in various ancient versions of the Shanhaijing in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Russia, France, America, and elsewhere. They enrich the limited perspective of approaching the Shanhaijing from written textual analysis, thus broadening the scope of Shanhaijing studies.Īs one of the outstanding Chinese mythologists, Ma has concentrated her research interest on the illustrated Shanhaijing for more than ten years. Ma Changyi’s two recent books, Guben Shanhaijing Tushuo ( An Interpretation of Illustrations in Ancient Versions of the Shanhaijing, briefly called as An Interpretation in the following), and Quanxiang Shanhaijingtu Bijiao ( A Thorough Comparison of The Illustrations in Shanhaijing, briefly as A Comparison), establish the first monumental study of the illustrated Shanhaijing. However, the illustrations in the book have never received through investigation, even though it is commonly agreed that the book was originally written with both characters and drawings, or even more, that it was a book explaining mythical ancient icons with written texts produced later. During the past 2,000 years, it has attracted numerous studies. It is respected by many scholars as an important book in ancient Chinese mythology studies, or even as an encyclopedia of ancient China. fourth century bc to the early period of second century bc) is a notable one. Reviewed by Lihui Yang, professor of folklore, Beijing Normal University, BeijingĪmong various Chinese classics, Shanhaijing (or The Classic of Mountains and Seas, ca. Quanxiang Shanhaijingtu Bijiao ( A Through Comparison to Illustrations in Shanhaijing). Reprinted by Guilin: Guangxi Shifan Daxue Press, 2007 Taibei: Gaiya Wenhua Publishing House, 2009. Originally published by Shandong Huabao Publishing House, Ji’nan, 2001. Guben Shanhaijing Tushuo ( An Interpretation to Illustrations in Ancient Versions of Shanhaijing). World Digital Library.Ĭhinese Rare Book Collection (Library of Congress) It has been assumed that Shan hai jing shi yi, printed in the 25th year of the Wanli reign (1597), was based on an edition of You tu Shan hai jing issued at an earlier date. A similar work by Jiang Yikui, entitled Shan hai jing shi yi (Annotated classic of the mountains and seas), contains 75 illustrations that are almost identical to the 74 images in this work. The names of two illustrators, Jiang Yinghao and Wu Linfu, as well as that of the engraver, Li Wenxiao, are found at the end of the work. His name appears in the original title of this work. During the Jin dynasty (265-420) the renowned historian Guo Pu (276-324) wrote annotations to it. The author or authors and the date of composition are unknown.

Shan hai jing (Classic of the mountains and seas) is a Chinese classic text describing mountains, regions within and beyond the seas, and mythic animals.