The first book of the Shan Hai Jing is the Classic of the Southern Mountains, divided into three ranges. Its entries follow an almost invariant formula: appearance first, then the name, then the use or the omen — eat it and this happens, wear it and that happens, see it and something is coming.
The formula is revealing. This is not a collection of monster stories. It reads much more like an inventory of products and portents, in a tone so level it verges on the administrative. What follows walks the three ranges in order.
Southern Mountains (first range)
Mount Zhaoyao: three things.
Zhuyu, a plant "shaped like a leek with green flowers; eat it and you will not hunger." Migu, a tree "shaped like a paper mulberry with black grain, its blossom shining all around; wear it and you will not lose your way." And the xingxing, "shaped like an ape with white ears, which crawls and also walks upright; eat it and you will be swift of foot."
Mount Niuyang: the lushu and the xuangui.
The lushu is "shaped like a horse with a white head, striped like a tiger with a red tail, its cry like singing; wear it and your descendants will prosper." The xuangui is "shaped like a tortoise with a bird's head and a viper's tail, its cry like splitting wood; wear it and you will not go deaf, and it can treat calluses."
Mount Di: the lu.
"Shaped like an ox, dwelling on the slopes, with a serpent's tail and wings, its plumage beneath its flanks, its cry like a bellowing ox; it is named the lu; it dies in winter and revives in summer; eat it and you will have no swellings." A fish that lives on a hillside and lies dormant through the cold.
Mount Danyuan: the lei.
The mountain "has much water and no vegetation, and cannot be climbed." On it is a beast "shaped like a wildcat with a mane, named the lei; it is both male and female in itself; those who eat it will not feel envy." Hermaphroditic, and its effect is on the disposition rather than the body — rare in this book.
Mount Ji: the boyi and the shangfu.
The boyi is "shaped like a goat with nine tails and four ears, its eyes on its back; wear it and you will not know fear." The shangfu is a bird, "shaped like a chicken with three heads, six eyes, six feet and three wings; eat it and you will not sleep."
Mount Qingqiu: the nine-tailed fox and the guanguan.
The fox entry reads: "shaped like a fox with nine tails, its cry like an infant's; it can eat people; those who eat it will not be afflicted by poison." Here it is a man-eater with an infant's cry; the auspicious reading was attached from the Han dynasty onward. The guanguan is "shaped like a dove, its cry like a scolding; wear it and you will not be deluded." The waters of the Ying also hold the chiru, "with a human face and a fish's body; eat it and you will not have scabies."
Southern Mountains, second range
Mount Ju: the lili and the zhu.
The lili is "shaped like a piglet with spurs, its cry like a dog's bark; when it appears, that county will have much earthwork" — its arrival means construction levies. The zhu is "shaped like an owl with human hands, its cry like..., and when it appears, that county will banish many scholars." Both portend political events, not natural disasters.
Mount Changyou: the changyou, "shaped like an ape with four ears, named changyou, its cry like a moan; when it appears, the commandery will flood."
Mount Yaoguang: the huahuai, "shaped like a human with boar's bristles, dwelling in caves and hibernating in winter, named huahuai, its cry like the chopping of wood; when it appears, the county will have heavy corvée."
Mount Fuyu: the zhi, "shaped like a tiger with an ox's tail, its cry like a barking dog, named the zhi; it eats people." No further comment. That is the entire entry.
Mount Luwu: the gudiao, "shaped like an eagle with horns, its cry like the cry of an infant; it eats people." Another man-eater with an infant's cry — the same descriptive move used for the fox of Qingqiu.
Southern Mountains, third range
Mount Daoguo: the hujiao and the quru.
The hujiao has "a fish's body and a serpent's tail, its cry like a mandarin duck's; eat it and you will not swell, and it can cure piles." The quru is "shaped like a heron with a white head, three feet and a human face, and it calls its own name" — appearance and cry only, with no stated use.
Mount Danxue: the fenghuang.
"There is a bird here shaped like a chicken, patterned in five colours, named the fenghuang; the pattern on its head reads virtue, on its wings righteousness, on its back propriety, on its breast benevolence, on its belly trustworthiness. This bird eats and drinks according to nature, sings and dances of itself, and when it appears, all under heaven is at peace." Five ethical terms written onto the plumage — one of the few places in the book where a moral concept is folded directly into a physical description.
Mount Ji: the zhuanyu, "shaped like a crucian carp with boar's bristles, its cry like a piglet's; when it appears there is great drought under heaven."
Mount Lingqiu: the yong, "shaped like an owl with a human face, four eyes and ears, named the yong, and it calls its own name; when it appears there is great drought under heaven." One in the water and one in the air, portending the same thing.
What the inventory shows
Sort the entries above by function and the distribution is strikingly tidy.
Edible: xingxing (swiftness), lu (no swellings), lei (no envy), shangfu (no sleep), chiru (no scabies), hujiao (swelling and piles). Wearable: lushu (prosperous descendants), xuangui (hearing, calluses), boyi (fearlessness), guanguan (clarity of mind). Useful plants: zhuyu (no hunger), migu (no getting lost). Man-eaters: the nine-tailed fox, the zhi, the gudiao. Portents: lili (earthworks), zhu (banished scholars), changyou (flood), huahuai (corvée), zhuanyu (drought), yong (drought). Auspicious: the fenghuang.
The portent group repays attention. The lili foretells construction levies, the zhu foretells the banishment of worthy men, the huahuai foretells heavy corvée. None of these is a natural disaster; all three are matters of government. The compilers of the Southern Mountains chapters were not only interested in nature. The appearance of a strange beast was treated as a readable signal about how the state was being run.
The other pattern is that almost every entry answers the question of what the thing is good for. Cures, food, navigation, wakefulness — all duly recorded. Only the fenghuang is different. It is not there to be eaten or worn. Its value is that when it appears, the world is at peace.
Put another way, in this inventory a thing earns its entry either by being useful, in which case it is a product, or by foretelling something, in which case it is a portent. It is a thoroughly practical book.
Sources and notes
Quotations from the Southern Mountains chapters follow the standard Guo Pu recension, with the mountain named for each entry. Range attribution: Zhaoyao, Niuyang, Di, Danyuan, Ji and Qingqiu belong to the first range; Ju, Changyou, Yaoguang, Fuyu and Luwu to the second; Daoguo, Danxue, Ji and Lingqiu to the third.
Two glosses: the xuangui entry's term for calluses is read as the thickened skin of the feet, and the huahuai entry's term is read as corvée labour. Both follow Guo Pu and the mainstream commentarial tradition.
Transcriptions of some names vary between editions; the more common forms are used here. A small number of Southern Mountains entries that record only appearance, with no use or omen, are not included.
This article describes the contents of an ancient text. It does not concern real animals or plants, and constitutes no dietary or medical advice whatsoever.
Image credit
Illustrations are contemporary artists' interpretations based on the Southern Mountains text, included to support the physical descriptions. They do not reproduce any historical illustrated edition.
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