Ancient Myths Reborn: Unveiling China’s Earliest Geographical Masterpiece

Today, we’ll talk about a newly opened exhibition that rekindled interest in the earliest geographical work to have survived to the present day in China, serving as a treasure trove of the legendary mountains, seas, natural resources, and mystical creatures of ancient China.

Transcript

Ancient Myths Reborn：Unveiling China’s Earliest Geographical Masterpiece

Today, we’ll talk about a newly opened exhibition that rekindled interest in the earliest geographical work to have survived to the present day in China, serving as a treasure trove of the legendary mountains, seas, natural resources, and mystical creatures of ancient China.

Earlier this year, a bronze vessel exhibition opened at the Jilin University Museum of Archaeology and Art in Changchun in northeast China’s Jilin Province, reviving another round of interest in the earliest geographical work that has survived into the modern era.

Known as one of the Three Ancient Chinese Masterpieces, together with the Book of Changes and the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor, the Classic of Mountains and Seas is a significant ancient Chinese compilation with rich content in history, geography, mythology, ethnology, religion, and medicine. 

Jilin University’s exhibition takes the records of Classic of Mountains and Seas as its main thread and uses bronze artifacts to piece together history and unfold the grand tapestry of the ancient classic. More than 180 bronze artifacts have been put on display to tell the story of how bronze vessels evolved from ritual vessels for sacrifices during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the period spanning 1600 to 256 BCE, into practical vessels for everyday use starting as earlier as the Qin dynasty around 221 BCE.

The entire text of the Classic of Mountains and Rivers consists of 18 chapters divided into two sections: one is the Classic of the Mountains and the other is the Classic of the Seas. The Classic of the Mountains provides detailed descriptions of numerous mountain ranges as well as the rivers and waterways associated with the mountains, and includes any natural resources found on and around the mountains.

As the most valuable section of the book, the Classic of the Mountains divides the country into five parts, each covering a different cardinal direction: the East, South, West, North, and Central Mountains. The mountains are all described in a consistent writing style, with the entire text resembling a rigorous observation log.

Compared with the rigorously structured Classic of the Mountains, the overall style of the Classic of the Seas was written, somewhat fittingly, in a more fluid style. It documents different bodies of water, various coastal regions, and islands off the coast. It also includes descriptions of a wide variety of mythical creatures that inhabit the seas and coastal regions. A sub-section entitled the Classic of the Great Wilderness goes even further afield to describe a vast and chaotic world, extending far beyond known geographical boundaries into a mythical realm.

Academic opinions used to be wildly divided on who the author of the book was and when the book was written. Modern scholars have generally reached the agreement that the book was not written by a single person at any particular time, but was continuously written and revised between the Warring States Period, lasting from 475BCE to 221BCE and the beginning of the Han Dynasty. While scholars generally confirm the authenticity of the records in the Classic of the Mountains, they mostly hold that the Classic of the Seas deal with an imaginary and fantastical world.

From the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, lasting from 1368 to 1644 CE, the Classic of Mountains and Seas was mostly regarded as a geographical work. During the Qing Dynasty from 1644 to 1911, however, the book was reclassified as a novel, because of its bizarre and fantastic content and inaccurate records of geographical directions. Today, most Chinese regard the Classic of Mountains and Seas as mythology. For Western readers accustomed to Greek mythology and Norse sagas, the style in which the Classic of Mountains and Seas is written might come as quite a shock. It resembles neither the Homeric epic nor the Eddic poetry and prose. Instead, it is an encyclopedic mythology that combines a geographic compendium, a species guide, and a witchcraft manual.

Chen Lianshan, professor of folklore and mythology at Peking University, interprets the Classic of Mountains and Seas as a government-compiled and somewhat primitive geographical treatise. According to Chen, the significant discrepancies between the records in the book and the reality today are easily explained by the great changes that have taken place over time. Mountains may remain steadfast, but waterways and natural surroundings are highly variable.

To average readers, perhaps the most fascinating part of the book is its treasure trove of mythology. The Classic of Mountains and Seas stands out as the most significant mythological text from ancient China. As Lu Xun, father of modern Chinese literature, noted, “China’s myths and legends have yet to be compiled into a dedicated book, remaining scattered throughout ancient texts, with a significant concentration found in The Classic of Mountains and Seas.” 

The mythological gods, deities, spirits and creatures described in the book are referenced in many places throughout Chinese folklore. Let’s take a look into three of the most well-known examples – Nuwa patching the sky, Jingwei filling the sea, and Kuafu chasing the sun.

The first story has to do with the mother of the Chinese nation, Nuwa. Legend has it that after Nuwa created humans, they lived peacefully and happily for a long time. One year, the Water God Gonggong and the Fire God Zhurong started fighting. In the end, the Fire God emerged victorious. Feeling angry and ashamed, the Water God smashed his head against the Buzhou Mountain, which was a giant pillar supporting the sky. The smash caused the mountain to collapse, which of course allowed a corner of the sky to fall. On the earth, enormous cracks developed on the surface of the ground, forests went up in flame, floodwaters spurted from underground, and ferocious creatures began to wreak havoc here and there. Nuwa felt terribly distressed upon seeing this and decided to patch up the sky to put an end to the human suffering. She collected multi-colored stones, set a great fire to smelt them into a slurry, and used the slurry to paste over the hole. Then she chopped the four feet off a giant turtle, and used them as the four pillars to support the sky. After Nuwa’s toil, the sky was mended, the earth was even, the waters were stopped, and the people once again lived in peace and happiness. 

The second story has to do with the youngest daughter of the Yan Emperor, who was a tribal leader in ancient China and revered as one of the founding ancestors of the Chinese people. One day the young girl went swimming in the Eastern Sea and was tragically drowned. After her death, her soul transformed into a divine bird called Jingwei, which resembled a raven, with a patterned head, a white beak, and red feet. Enraged with the sea that had taken her life, Jingwei began to carry branches and stones from the Western Mountain, day in and day out, in an effort to fill up the Eastern Sea.

Today, Jingwei filling the sea is not just an ancient story, but has also become an idiom describing a futile and never-ending task. In this sense, Jingwei could be seen as the Chinese equivalent of Sisyphus from the Greek mythology, who was cursed by Zeus to roll an enchanted boulder uphill forever. From another perspective, both Jingwei and Sisyphus represent a positive meaning — dogged determination in the face of overwhelming odds.

Kuafu chasing the sun is also associated with the Yan Emperor. Kuafu, a descendant of the Yan Emperor, was a giant with immense strength. In his time, the sun was scorching the earth, making life unbearable. So, Kuafu decided to chase the sun and stop it from causing so much suffering. He set out westwards, running with incredible speed to catch the sun. As he ran, he drank from rivers and lakes to quench his thirst, but the heat from the sun was so intense that he could not find enough water to quench his thirst. Eventually, he collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration. As he fell, he transformed into a mountain, and his wooden staff turned into a forest of peach trees. The forest provided shelter for travelers, and the peaches quenched their thirst.

Kuafu is often interpreted as a symbol of human determination and the pursuit of the impossible. Despite his failure, Kuafu’s spirit of perseverance and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good are still celebrated in Chinese culture. The brave and romantic story of Kuafu has not only inspired numerous writers and artists to produce derivative works, but in 2022 the name Kuafu was chosen for China’s first satellite specially designed to carry out comprehensive probes of the sun.

It's worth mentioning that many parts of the Classic of Mountains and Seas reflect knowledge from the astronomical calendar of the ancient Chinese. For example, the Classic of the Great Wilderness records seven mountains in the east, arranged from south to north in a longitudinal line. In the first half of each year, the sun rises in turn from the southernmost mountain to the northernmost mountain, while in the second half of the year, the sun reverses its direction, rising from the northernmost mountain to the southernmost mountain. This way, the ancient Chinese could roughly determine the season and the month by observing from behind which mountain the sun was rising.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas also contains crucial information on early medicine as well as omens to avoid catastrophe. It documents 124 types of medicinal substances, symptoms of 57 diseases, and a wide array of treatment methods. It also records a creature called li, and mentions that whenever it appears, a great plague will occur. This li might be today’s red-bellied squirrel. Modern scientific research has proven that the red-bellied squirrel is a natural carrier of the plague pathogen. Obviously, people in the time of the Classic of Mountains and Seas had already discovered the association between the creature and the plague, and their records of this association are correct.

By the Tang and Song dynasties from the 7th to 13th centuries, the Classic of Mountains and Seas had already made its way to Japan, exerting influence on the Japanese yokai and anime culture. But the first complete English translation of the book didn’t appear until 1999, when it was translated by Anne Birrell and published by Penguin Classics.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas constructs a fascinating and enigmatic universe composed of over 400 mountains, 300 water systems, 300 mythical creatures and 200 deities and spirits. The text is not only a valuable source of historical and cultural information but also a treasure trove of myths and legends that continue to inspire modern interpretations and studies.

This masterpiece weaves a rich tapestry of the Chinese romantic imagination that has formed since ancient times, and provides a unique window into the ancient Chinese understanding of the natural world, which embodies the quest for a harmonious union between themselves and their biophysical and socio-anthropological environment, conceiving themselves as an integral part of the cosmos.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Wang Yuyan, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.