"The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is an ancient Chinese book about strange things. It was written by people of Chu or Bashu from the middle and late Warring States Period to the early and middle Han Dynasty. It is also an absurd and strange book. The author of the book is unknown. The ancients believed that the book was "written by curious people during the Warring States Period who took the "Biography of King Mu" and miscellaneously recorded "Zhuang", "Lie", "Li Sao", "Book of Zhou" and "Jin Cheng". Modern scholars also believe that the book was not written at one time, and the author was not one person. There are 18 existing chapters in the "Book of Mountains and Seas", and the content of the remaining chapters has been lost.
"Nanshan Jing" records the natural features of the three mountain series headed by Zhaoyao Mountain, Cabinet Mountain and Tianyu Mountain, as well as the birds and beasts that appear in them and the products they produce.
Map of Beijing-Hangzhou Daoli (detail), mid-Qing Dynasty, silk ground, painted, green color, vertical 78.5 cm, horizontal 1783.6 cm, collected by Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
This map from the mid-Qing Dynasty, from Beijing to Hangzhou, expresses the terrain along the Grand Canal in the form of painting. It not only has the corresponding geographical position, but also vividly reflects the landscape. It can be called A masterpiece combining map and painting.
As for the writing of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas", Professor Zhang Butian, an expert on "The Classic of Mountains and Seas", believes that it was written by the ancients based on the investigation results of the twenty-six routes followed by people of various dynasties and generations before the Western Han Dynasty. Since each route was not developed at one time, the times reflected in each map are also different. This map is drawn based on Professor Zhang Butian's "Inspection Route Map of the Classic of Mountains and Seas". The map records the geographical location from Zhaoyao Mountain to Jiwei Mountain in the "Nanci Yi Jing". The ten mountains recorded in the classic are actually only nine. ?