Ancient and modern scholars have different understandings of the content and nature of Shan Hai Jing. For example, Sima Qian bluntly said that its content was too absurd to be used as a reference for making history. For example, Lu Xun thought it was "the book of wizards and alchemists". At present, most scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing is an early and valuable geographical work.

Shan Hai Jing has extraordinary literature value, which can be used as a reference for studying China's ancient history, geography, culture, Chinese and foreign transportation, folk customs and myths, among which the mineral records are the earliest related documents in the world.

Extended data:

Literary value

Shan Hai Jing is a magical work, with all-encompassing contents, and rich and precious materials in geography, mythology, folklore, history of science, religion, ethnology, medicine and other disciplines.

Its academic value involves many disciplines, and systematically records the natural geographical elements and human geographical contents of China, such as mountains, hydrology, animals and plants, mineral deposits, national geography, economy, social and cultural customs, etc. After careful study and in-depth discussion, there will be no worries about new discoveries.

debate

The understanding of the content and nature of The Classic of Mountains and Seas is different in past dynasties. Han Shu's Records of Literature and Art classified it as "form and method", while (that is, Liu Xin) thought Shan Hai Jing was a history book of geography and natural history.

Guo Pu of the Western Jin Dynasty spoke highly of Shan Hai Jing as a credible geographical document. In the Ming Dynasty, Hu Yinglin thought Shan Hai Jing was the "ancestor of strange language in ancient and modern times", so he included it in the book Strange Language. The Qing Dynasty's Sikuquanshu also listed this book as a novel.

Baidu encyclopedia-shanhaijing