“Text as a Device for Mapping a Sacred Space: A Case of the Wu zang shan jing (“Five Treasuries:...

Text as a Device for Mapping a Sacred Space A Case of the Wu Zang Shan J ing

(“Five Treasur ies : The I t inerar ies of Mounta ins”) 1

Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann

Introduction

If we define a “sacred space” as an organization of space with respect to a spatial ar-rangement of sacred powers (e.g., divinities, spirits and other supernatural beings), a good illustration of such a conception of space can be found in the Wu zang shan jing (“Five Treasuries: The Itineraries of Mountains”, hereafter the WZSJ), an ancient Chi-nese terrestrial description. Indeed, according to the WZSJ, terrestrial space is divided into an orderly set of areas, each submitting to a special group of local spirits. How-ever, this “spiritual” aspect is more often than not overlooked in studies of the geo-graphical knowledge and cosmographical ideas conveyed in the WZSJ. The studies that are concerned with the spirits described in this text, in their turn, do not pay much attention to the spatial arrangement of these spirits.

In the first part of this paper I analyze how terrestrial space is represented in the WZSJ. Having surveyed the structure of this terrestrial representation, I focus on its sacred attributes. From the results of this analysis, I conclude that in the case of the WZSJ we are dealing with a distinctive type of geographical knowledge markedly dif-ferent from modern geography in its content, form and functions.

Since a sacred space is not explicitly defined in a real landscape, it has to be cre-ated. Creating a sacred space may be accomplished by using special instruments for establishing correspondences between parts of terrestrial space and/or landmarks and the spirits. In the second part of this paper I point out the typological similarity be-tween such instruments surviving from ancient China and the organization of space derived from the WZSJ. I advance the hypothesis that the WZSJ, the textual body of which even in the extant version meticulously emulates the structure of represented space, was originally tailored as such an instrument. In particular, I shall try to demon-strate that the instrumental usage of this text was considerably enhanced by its original material support – bamboo slips. This hypothesis opens an interesting perspective for considering the question of the “lost” original maps of the WZSJ raised by the famous

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1 I am truly indebted to John Moffett for corrections of my English. Any mistakes found in this paper are my own responsibility.

V. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann: Text as a Device For Mapping a Sacred Space 148

Chinese scholar of the 18th century Bi Yuan.

1. Form and Content of the Shan Hai Jing (General Characteristics) The WZSJ is the first and the largest part of the Shan hai jing (“Itineraries of Moun-tains and Seas” hereafter the SHJ), compiled no later than the beginning of the 1st cen-tury BC.2

It should be noted that the SHJ occupies a special place among terrestrial descrip-tions surviving from ancient China. Being the most voluminous among these texts (about 31,000 characters, the share of the WZSJ is about 21,000),3 it is distinguished by the large scope of territories encompassed, the multiplicity of landmarks enu-merated, and the many details related to these landmarks.4 The extant version of the SHJ consists of 18 chapters corresponding to “silk scrolls” (juan) distributed between two parts – the WZSJ or simply the Shan jing (“Itineraries of Mountains”) and the Hai jing (“Itineraries of Seas”) – of 5 and 13 chapters, respectively.5 On the one hand, the two parts of the SHJ form an evident structural entity, which can be immediately seen from their matching titles. On the other, there is a certain difference between them in subject matter and style of description, which allows one to treat them more or less independently. Moreover, there is some evidence for believing that the WZSJ circu-lated as an independent text after the SHJ was compiled.6

2 The SHJ is first mentioned in the Shi ji (“Records of the Historian”, ch. 123 (Shi ji 1972, Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 3179) by Sima Qian (ca. 145 – ca. 87 BC); de Groot, trans. 1926: 44-5; Watson, trans. 1969: 299). I discuss this reference and its later citations elsewhere (Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001b; [in print B]). 3 For accounts of characters in the SHJ and its parts, cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 59, footnote 7. 4 It is little wonder that the SHJ has attracted considerable scholarly attention since the beginnings of sinology. For a classified list of related sinological literature, cf. complementary bibliographies of the SHJ compiled by Fracasso 1983: 695-700; 1991; for a survey of the literature, cf. Suh Kyung Ho 1993: 53-95. A good index of scholarly interest in a text is the number of its translations. The SHJ has several full translations into European languages: Yanshina 1977; Mathieu 1983 (supplied with valu-able indices); Cheng Hsiao-Chieh et al. 1985; (reviewed by Casu 1988 and Fracasso 1987); Fracasso 1996; Birrell 1999 (the two latter translations are reviewed by Campany 2000 who also makes many remarks on the translation by Mathieu), and a number of partial translations: Burnouf 1875; de Rosny 1891; Mänchen-Helfen 1924: 550-86; Index du Chan hai king 1948; Finsterbusch 1952; 1954; Schif-feler 1977 [repr., 1978]. It has also been translated several times into Japanese and into baihua (cf. Fracasso 1991: 82-5, the last baihua version by Ren Fuxian and Yu Youfa 1997). 5 The SHJ apparently underwent extensive editorial work by Liu Xin (Xiu) (ca. 46 BC - AD 23), who, according to his preface (Biao – “Indications”) to the text (Shan hai jing jianshu by Hao Yixing (1757-1825), SBBY ed., “Xu lu”, 1a-3b; Eitel, trans. 1888: 330-48; Campany 1996: 134-6) produced a definitive version of 18 chapters out one of 32, a chapter corresponding to a “bound rolls of bamboo slips” (pian). The extant version comprising 18 chapters, a chapter corresponding to a “silk scroll” (juan), is supposed to be based on an edition by Guo Pu (AD 276-324). For textual history of the SHJ, cf. Suh Kyung Ho 1993: 17-40. For basic information on the SHJ, cf. Fracasso 1993: 357-67.

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6 The Shan jing only is mentioned in the Han shu (Han shu 1975, Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 2705; Hulsewé, trans. 1979: 237-8) and the Lun heng (“Making Statements and Balancing [them]”, SBBY ed., 11/3a-b; Wang Chong (27 - ca. 100 AD), trans. by Forke 1907 [repr., 1962a]: 254) by. It is note-


The WZSJ provides a description of the “central” part of the inhabited world. Ac-cording to this text, the “center” comprises the basins of the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers and is limited in each cardinal direction by a sea. The description is charac-terized by a remarkably systematized presentation of data. Specifically, it contains an account of 447 mountains arranged in twenty-six lists. A list corresponds to a sub-chapter, the sub-chapters are in their turn arranged into five chapters, a chapter repre-senting a “treasury” (zang)7 (cf. Table 1). The mountains are featured in a uniformly formulaic way – according to recurrent characteristics. Major characteristics are the plants, animals and minerals found on a mountain, and the river(s) emanating from it.8 The location of each mountain9 is given according to the principle of relative location, namely, with respect to the preceding one in the list, by indicating the cardinal direc-tion in which the next mountain is to be found and its distance from the preceding mountain, e.g. “300 li to the south-east [from mountain A] there is mountain called B”. Thus, each list features a sequence of mountains located one after the other. Such a sequence delineates an itinerary marked by mountains.

Although the following discussion is mostly focused on the WZSJ, I shall occasion-ally refer to the second part of the SHJ, the Hai jing, which in the majority of relevant studies is considered to be comprised of textual layers later than the core layer formed by the WZSJ.10 The Hai jing differs from the WZSJ both in its subject matter and for-mal aspects, being less homogeneous in both these respects. The Hai jing is comprised of three sub-sections describing the following terrestrial zones – “Outside the Seas” (Hai wai), “Inside the Seas” (Hai nei) and “The Great Wilderness” (Da huang). These zones are usually considered to cover far-away lands surrounding those described in the WZSJ.11 The majority of landmarks enumerated in the Hai jing are “countries” worthy that both these occurrences of the single Shan jing are found in the citations of the passage from the Shi ji where the entire text – the SHJ – is mentioned (cf. footnote 2). 7 For some comments on this title, cf. Fracasso 1983: 659. 8 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 59, footnote 8, Table 1. 9 With the exception of the initial mountain in the list. 10 Cf. Fracasso 1993: 360. A contrary point of view is developed by Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 665. Hwang Ming-Chorng, however, makes an attempt to trace the ancient knowledge conveyed in the text, whereas the other studies are mostly concerned with the time of the composition of the text.

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11 The most widespread schematic representation of the terrestrial zones in sinological literature is a nest of concentric layers. The “Mountains” are placed in the Center and encompassed respectively by “Inside the Seas”, “Outside the Seas”, and “The Great Wilderness”, cf., e.g., Fracasso 1983 (facing p. 660); Schiffeler 1980: 43-4; Major (1973: 99-100) following the sequence of the zones in the text, places “Outside the Seas” closer to the center than “Inside the Seas”. There are, however, many indi-cations of overlapping (occurrences of the same landmarks) between “Outside the Seas” and “The Great Wilderness”, cf. Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 635-7, especially footnote 346. It is noteworthy that in the so-called “wheel” maps (mid 18th century, cf. Harley and Woodward, eds. 1994, color plate 16, Fig. 10.10 (p. 257), Fig. 10.11 (p. 258); the two latter maps are reproduced with a considerable reduction in Smith 1996, Fig. 3.4 (p. 30)), the only extant maps directly related to the SHJ, which, in effect, provide a rather schematic representation of the terrestrial zones described in the SHJ, this overlapping is taken into consideration – “Outside the Seas” and “The Great Wilderness” are shown


(guo); less frequent are mountains and rivers12. Also the relative locations are less con-sistent (they are only found in the “Outside the Seas”), the precise distances between them are never stated, and the descriptions of landmarks are more varied. However, the descriptions are still in the form of orderly lists implying itineraries. Here each list corresponds to a chapter.

The lists of landmarks throughout the SHJ are entitled jing (literally “warp”), so are chapters of the WZSJ, being sets of lists (cf. Table 1). The most common meaning of jing with respect to texts titles – “classic”, “canon”, “book” – does not seem to fit well in this case. Some scholars have already tried to find a more appropriate translation – the “Catalogue of Mountains and Seas”/Katalog gor i morey (Yanshina 1977), the “Records of Mountains and Seas” (Suh Kyung Ho 1993), “Kompendium der Berge und Seen” (Frühauf 1999; 2000). The proposed working translation of jing as “itiner-ary/itineraries” in the titles of all textual sections of the SHJ and in its general title re-lies on another secondary meaning of the character jing – “principal route”. The pro-posed translation corresponds to the presentation of terrestrial space in the SHJ as a system of itineraries, as will be demonstrated below (Part I). I shall discuss again the proposed translation at the end of this paper, after having examined the system of itin-eraries.

In addition to their systematized form, both parts of the SHJ are similar in the “su-pernatural” nature of their content. Thus, a considerable number of beings and things found at the enumerated landmarks are so-called “anomalies”13 (e.g., animals with five legs, people with two heads, etc.). Many of these beings and things have magical properties, such as being auspicious or evil signs or producing healing or poisoning effects, and many of the creatures, such as spirits and mythical personages, possess much magical power.

2. Methodological Perspectives of the Proposed Study To a researcher trained in the modern Western scientific tradition (analytical tradition) or considerably influenced by it the SHJ seems to have two completely different and sometimes contradictory facets: myth and magic, on the one hand, and “realistic” knowledge approaching “science”, on the other. This distinction still dominates the here as a single zone. Schematic representations of the pairs of neighboring zones by Li Ling – “In-side the Seas” encompasses “Mountains”, “Outside the Seas” encompasses “Inside the Seas”, “The Great Wilderness” also encompasses “Inside the Seas” (cf. Li Ling 2000 [rev. of 1993], p. 138, Fig. 3, 2 and 4 respectively) – conveys, in effect, an idea of the respective arrangement of the zones, similar to that found in the “wheel” maps. Suh Kyung Ho (1993: 304-9) and myself Dorofeeva-Lichtmann (1995: 81-6) advance a further suggestion that “Inside the Seas” like the “Mountains” refers to the Center of the world, but describes it from a different angle. 12 The rivers here are independent landmarks, in contrast to the WZSJ, where they are mentioned only in relation to mountains.

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13 Following the interpretation of Campany 1996.


interpretative studies of the SHJ, which are, as a rule, concerned with one or other of these facets. Drawing such demarcation lines across the content of the SHJ is at odds with the remarkably systematized presentation of data in this text, wherein “myth” and “reality”, in other words, all the constituent elements of the provided description, con-stitute a single entity. Distinguishing only one of these facets, while ignoring the other, therefore, fragments this entity. Elsewhere I have analyzed in detail the artificial char-acter and misleading consequences of such restrictive approaches to the SHJ.14 In sum, restrictive and sometimes wholly inadequate approaches to the SHJ have produced a mosaic of incoherent, often contradictory, and sometimes thoroughly misleading in-sights into what is represented in this text.

My own study of the SHJ was to a considerable extent inspired by the insights into the SHJ by Dega V. Deopik (1978; 1995) and the study by Deborah Porter (1993) of the Mu Tianzi zhuan (“Narrative of the Son of Heaven, Mu”, composed around 350 c. BC and sharing many common issues with the SHJ). My first observations and work-ing conclusions were supported by the “negative” results of the attempts to match the landmarks, as they are located in the SHJ to topographical reality.15 They were further encouraged by the studies of the SHJ by Suh Kyung Ho (1993), Hwang Ming-Chorng (1996) and the studies of the SHJ and the Mu Tianzi zhuan by Manfred W. Frühauf (1999; 2000).

I argue that the SHJ is a product of a distinctive and elaborate tradition of repre-senting terrestrial space that is markedly different from modern Western geography. This text should, therefore, be evaluated in terms of its proper tradition, avoiding modernistic value judgments and distinctions, or those, characteristic of other cultural traditions, unless the latter are typologically similar to the representation of terrestrial space in ancient China.

In order to reconstruct and comprehend the representation of terrestrial space in the SHJ in an adequate, as far as it is possible, and coherent way, I propose considering it from “holistic” and “internal” perspectives.

(1)

The systematized account of landmarks found in this text should be considered as a whole; namely, the given locations of landmarks should be explored

a) as a system, that is, first of all in their relation to each other, according to the text, and not with respect to real topography.

b) in the context of all the other elements of their description, in particu-lar the spirits inhabiting the landmarks.

14 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2003: 36-47, esp. pp. 43-7.

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15 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1999; 2001d.


(2) The derived data should be systematically evaluated according to the patterns and principles of ancient Chinese cosmology and other ancient Chinese repre-sentations of space, in other words, within a large framework of notions and cultural presuppositions, which could underdetermine given locations.

The major pitfall to avoid, as far as the given locations of landmarks are concerned, is their evaluation according to the standards of a modern Western map. Consciously or subconsciously a modern scholar tends to do this, as modern Western cartography is his habitual form of presenting topographical information. To ignore these standards is especially difficult, as one is still obliged to consult modern Western maps for to-pographically accurate information. It is necessary, therefore, to abstract oneself as far as possible away from the topographically accurate information conveyed in modern Western maps (e.g., river A is located to the south of river B) as well as from the re-quirements of the way topographical data should be presented. What should be espe-cially taken into consideration here is that the Chinese cartographic tradition differs dramatically from modern Western cartography not only in its code of representation, but, first of all, in its goals and interests. In particular, topographical accuracy, a basic requirement in modern Western cartography, did not play such an important role in traditional Chinese mapmaking.16 Locations of landmarks, as given in the text, may be also quite different from the topographically accurate locations of these landmarks. Thus, river A, situated in reality to the south of river B, can be located elsewhere ac-cording to the text, to the west, for example. In this case it is necessary to remember that the exploration of the representation of terrestrial space according to the SHJ is concerned with given locations, and not with real locations.

To reconstruct and comprehend a representation of terrestrial space means to de-termine, (1) how it is structured (what are its form and constituent elements), (2) what meanings it conveys, and (3) what functions it serves in thought and practice.

I have discussed in more detail elsewhere the structure of the terrestrial space out-lined through the given arrangement of landmarks, and certain meanings conveyed through the derived structure.17 In part I of this paper I shall first (§ 1) point out some results of my investigation – especially those concerned with the core of the text, the WZSJ, the results necessary for the further analysis of the relationship between the arrangement of landmarks and the local spirits. This relationship explored in § 2 of this paper enables one to qualify the representation of terrestrial space in the SHJ as a “sacred space” in the sense of a space organized with respect to divine powers. Then (part II), I shall speculate on how this text could be used, paying special attention to

16 Cf. Yee 1994: 57; 228. I also discuss this issue in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2003: 38-43.

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17 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 71-88.


the technical aspects of its possible usage, and to the typologically similar cases.

I. Representation of Terrestrial Space in the Shan Hai Jing18

1. Terrestrial Space as a System of Itineraries As mentioned above, the mountains listed in the WZSJ are arranged into sequences, each sequence comprised of mountains located one after the other. Such an arrange-ment delineates itineraries marked by mountains. Each of the delineated itineraries has a definite starting and finishing point, and a “one way” direction.

According to the résumés appended to the WZSJ and Hai jing, and to the earliest references to this text, the creation of the SHJ is associated with the “travels” of the mythical emperor Yu. These “travels” were aimed at overcoming the Flood and re-storing order in the terrestrial world.19

The locus classicus for Yu’s “world-ordering” is the “Yu gong” (Yu’s [System of] Tribute”, ca. 5th-3rd? centuries BC)20 chapter of the “Classic of Documents” (Shu jing or Shang shu), one of the main Confucian Classics.21 According to the “Yu gong”, Yu’s world-ordering involved dividing terrestrial space into the “9 Provinces” (Jiu zhou), delineating (literally “paving” – dao1) “the system of communications” (9 itin-eraries by land and 9 itineraries by rivers), and establishing the complementary terres-trial division of the “Five Concentric Zones” (Wu fu). The “Nine Provinces” and the “Five Zones” came to represent the two basic models for tailoring terrestrial space in traditional China – the 3x3 grid and the nest of concentric squares (cf. Fig. 1 a, b).22

In contrast to these models, the itineraries are given little consideration in sinologi-cal literature. It is, however, noteworthy that the itineraries by land found in the “Yu

18 This part to a considerable extent reproduces my paper published elsewhere (cf. Dorofeeva-Licht-mann 2003), but contains important up-dates that I could not introduce to this paper. 19 The résumés were apparently composed in order to point out the relation between the SHJ and Em-peror Yu, in other words, they provide an “ideological” framework for the description of landmarks provided in text. Since Liu Xin in his “Indications” (Biao, cf. footnote 5) pays considerable attention to discussing the origins of the SHJ, which for him derived from Yu’s travels, it seems plausible to suggest that these résumés were added by him during his editorial work. At the same time, the link between Yu and the SHJ can be found in the reference to the SHJ in the Shi ji (cf. footnote 2), and therefore this idea existed prior to Liu Xin. As Liu Xin puts it, while Yu was ordering terrestrial space, his assistants were making “written notes” (ji), which then came to constitute the SHJ. This version of the text’s origins with some variations is shared within other Han texts: the Lun heng (SBBY ed., 13/9b; Wang Chong, trans. by Forke 1911 [repr., 1962b]: 103) by, and the Wu Yue Chunqiu (“Springs and Autumns of Wu and Yue [Kingdoms]”, ch.6, SBBY ed., 6/2a-b) attributed to Zhao Ye (mid 1st c. AD), cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 59-61; Campany 1996: 133-7. 20 Shangshu zhengyi, SBBY ed., 6/1a-19b; Legge, trans. 1865: 52-67; Karlgren, trans. 1950: 12-8; 1948, glosses 1352-1396. For the dating of the “Yu gong”, cf. Qu Wanli 1964. 21 For a survey of the main Confucial Classics, cf. Nylan 2001.

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22 For a survey of these models, cf. Major 1984: 133-66; Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 63-9; 1996: 10-2; 2003: 40-2. For the 3x3 grid model, cf. Henderson 1984: 59-87; 1994: 204-16.


gong” are delineated according to the same principle as in the WZSJ – from mountain to mountain.23 Fewer itineraries are found in the “Yu gong” and considerably fewer mountains serve as their markers – the 9 itineraries delineated here are comprised of 27 mountains (while the 26 itineraries of the WZSJ are comprised of a total of 447 mountains). An itinerary is marked by 2 to 4 mountains (this number varies from 5 to 48 in the WZSJ).24 No other details apart from the names of the mountains are pro-vided either.

Although the description of the itineraries in the “Yu’s [System of] Tribute” is only a short passage, it provides an important basis for comparison with the system of itin-eraries found in the WZSJ. The key place of the “Yu gong” among ancient Chinese terrestrial descriptions25 and its composition earlier than the SHJ should be taken into account here. In this respect it is noteworthy that Liu Xin at the beginning of his “Indi-cations” cites with some minor variation the opening phrase of the “Yu gong”, thus establishing the relationship between this text and the description found in the SHJ. The opening phrase of the “Yu gong” is as follows: “Yu laid out the lands; following the mountains [as orientation marks, he] cut down the trees [= he blazed paths, plotted according to the mountains, by cutting down the trees]; established the high mountains [and] the great rivers” (Yu fu tu1, sui shan kan mu, dian gao shan da chuan). Liu Xin, having omitted “laying out the lands” (which apparently refers to establishing the “Nine Provinces” and “Five Zones”), thus laid emphasis on the traveling and trail-blazing itineraries, and this is, indeed, what the WZSJ is about.26

Since the WZSJ contains more itineraries, considerably more references to moun-tains, and also much greater detail about each mountain, it may be considered as an extended version of this particular aspect of Yu’s ordering of terrestrial space.

The itineraries delineated in the WZSJ fill out the general spatial scheme of the four cardinal directions and the center emulated by the corresponding division of the WZSJ into five chapters (cf. Fig. 3).27 Each itinerary has a title, which corresponds to the

23 For the itineraries by land found in the “Yu gong”, cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 77-8, Fig. 10 (p. 100). 24 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995, Table 2 (p. 91). 25 The exclusive status of this text became explicitly expressed when it was accepted as the theoretical basis for the official conception of “terrestrial organization” (di li) formulated by Ban Gu (32-92 AD) in the Han shu (“History of the [Former] Han [Dynasty]”), cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001a; [in print A]. 26 The citation of this phrase by Liu Xin is an interesting combination of this phrase, as found in the “Yu gong”, and its citation and extrapolation in the “Xia ben ji” (“Basic Records of the Xia Dynasty”) chapter of the Shi ji (Shi ji 1972, Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 51). A detailed analysis of this phrase is, however, beyond the scope of this paper.

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27 The quinary model of tailoring terrestrial space (the “Four cardinal directions” – Si fang and the “Center” – Zhong) is usually represented in Chinese cosmography in the shape of a cross. According to Sarah Allan (1991: 74-111), it conveys an image of the Earth originating from the Shang dynasty


cardinal orientation of the chapter it belongs to, and, beginning from the second list in each chapter, its ordinal number in the chapter (cf. Table 1). The titles then give clear indications as to how the itineraries are distributed within the quinary frame. As one can see from Fig. 3, their distribution is remarkably balanced, and corresponds to the acknowledged symbolic meanings of figures, but is not in proportion to the distribu-tion of individual mountains.28

The placement of the itineraries within the sections of the quinary scheme can be derived from the following indicators:

(1) The provision of the cardinally-oriented direction and precise distance from one mountain to the next in the list allow one to determine the definitive direction, configuration and length of each itinerary.

(2) Cardinally-oriented directions and destinations of the rivers emanating from mountains allow one to situate the itineraries with respect to each other. Indeed, in each of these cases the cardinally-oriented direction of the river flow and its destination are given, e.g. “river N emanates from it (that is, the mountain de-scribed), flows to the south, pours into the river M/sea”.29 These indicators al-low one to locate a sequence of mountains enumerated in a list in the following way: if its rivers flow to the south and pour into the Yellow River, it is located to the northern of the Yellow River; if its rivers flowing to the north pour into the Yellow River and those to the south into the Luo River, it is located be-tween the Yellow and Luo Rivers.30

The indicators that relate to rivers are less consistent and permit much less preci-sion. The highest degree of precision that can be achieved here is “itinerary A is lo-cated to the north of river N, and itinerary B to the south of river N, therefore, river A is to the north of river B (or river B is to the south of river A)”. Rivers also present a danger of imposing their real locations on the reconstructed system of itineraries. It is necessary to consider when using rivers as spatial indicators that if an itinerary goes to the north and its rivers flow to the west and into the Yellow River, this only means

The river flows serve as the major indicators for approximating the territories described in the SHJ as the basins of the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers. It should be noted that the provided distances consid-erably exceed these areas. For the failure of locations provided in the WZSJ to match real topography, cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2003: 36-8.

(ca. 16th-11th centuries BC). The 3x3 grid and the nest of concentric layers seem to be derived from this initial cruciform model (cf. Fig. 1 c) – both are derived through building up the cross to a square. The general scheme of the terrestrial space, according to the five chapters of the WZSJ, is represented as a quinary cross or as a nest of two layers (both possibilities are shown on Fig. 3). 28 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 72-4 (Footnote 81 on p. 72 contains an error, it should be “…a circle inscribed into a square…”). 29 For the rivers referred to in the SHJ, cf. Zhu Zhaoxin 1929; Tan Qixiang 1978: 173-92; Li Xianling 1999: 198-204; Wang Congyuan 1999: 205-16. 30

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that, according to the WZSJ, the Yellow River at the level of this itinerary is placed in a South-North direction.

The enumerated indicators allow one to disclose the following interesting charac-teristics of the itineraries:

- the itineraries never cross each other; - the itineraries are always located between rivers; - each itinerary has a dominant direction.

According to these characteristics, the itineraries delineate neighboring (never over-lapping) regions. This is done through tracing the central axis of the region and not through defining its borders. The borders are implied by the rivers and the sea, but are not explicitly articulated.

Fig. 4 presents a survey of the arrangement of itineraries in the WZSJ: their distri-bution within the quinary frame, dominant directions and relative placement. Even if the placement of itineraries can sometimes be open to discussion, there is no doubt that we are dealing here with a complex, yet orderly system. It has, however, two in-teresting “imperfections” if regarded from the principles and patterns of Chinese cos-mology: asymmetry between the North and the West, on the one hand, and the South and the East, on the other, and the two-fold Center.

Asymmetry between the North and the West, and the South and the East The itineraries of the North and the West contain a relatively large number of moun-tains and go from the Center to the periphery. The itineraries of the South and the East are comprised of a much smaller number of mountains, and also move away from the Center to the periphery, but as lines parallel to the outside border of their terrestrial section.

This arrangement of itineraries and number of mountains seems to be influenced by the real topography of the represented territories, as does the deviation of the last east-ern itinerary tracing the Shandong Peninsula. Indeed, the “Southern” and the “Eastern Mountains” refer to the south and the east of China, territories that have clear natural boundaries – the seas. The placement of itineraries of the “Southern” and “Eastern Mountains” reflects these boundaries, and the relatively small number of mountains here corresponds to the naturally limited scope of the represented territories. The “Northern” and the “Western Mountains”, in contrast, refer to the north and the west of China. These regions do not have such obvious natural boundaries, and cover a lar-ger potential area, so it is not surprising that they are “crowded” with mountains, with itineraries going far afield.

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The arrangement of itineraries seems, however, to be more complicated than simply


inspired by real topography when evaluated with respect to the vertical/lengthwise and horizontal/crosswise axes. Thus, the “Northern Mountains” belong to the northern branch of the vertical axis. Their itineraries are arrayed along this axis and point to the north. The same principle is characteristic of the “Western Mountains” – they belong to the western branch of the horizontal axis, and the itineraries are arrayed along this axis and point to the west. This arrangement of itineraries in the North and the West can be regarded, then, as cosmologically “perfect”, while the placement of itineraries in the South and the East, which run contrary to the axes they are associated with, as “imperfect”. These itineraries of the South and the East also have an interesting com-mon destination – they all come together in the south-east.

The asymmetry in the arrangement of itineraries and the “imperfection” in the South and the East brings to mind the conception of the deformed cosmos, which re-sulted from a “global catastrophe” provoked by the mythical being Gong Gong.31 While contesting with the mythical Emperor-to-be Zhuan Xu for power, Gong Gong butted Buzhou mountain, thereby breaking one of the eight “pillars” (zhu) holding up Heaven, and tearing up one of the four “nodes” (wei) holding together the corners of the square earth.32 Heaven then tilted to the north-west, explaining the shift of the heavenly bodies in this direction. Earth, in its turn, became deficient in the south-east, accounting for the south-easterly direction of the flow of rivers and dust. This concep-tion is an attempt to explain some natural “imperfections”,33 but the explanation is de-livered in the form of a cosmic scheme aimed at finding balance even in “imperfec-tions”.

A strong argument in favor of seeing the influence of this conception in the ar-rangement of itineraries in the WZSJ is that the latter appeared at roughly the same time as the compilation of the SHJ. Moreover, references to this conception are found in texts with mythological issues similar to the SHJ. Thus, the earliest allusions to it are found among the “questions” posed in the “Tian wen” (“Questions to Heaven”) chapter (ca. 3rd century BC).34 BC) of the Chu ci.35 Its earliest detailed description is found at the beginning of the “Tian xiang xun” (“Treatise on Heavenly Symbols”) chapter of the Huai nan zi (compiled by 139 BC).36

31 For Gong Gong, cf. Boltz 1981: 141-53. 32 For the “nodes” and “pillars”, cf. Field 1992: 100 and 105 respectively. 33 Cf. Pankenier 1983: 8-9. 34 This dating is proposed by Donald Harper, cf. Loewe and Shaughnessy, eds. (1999: 845). 35 Here the gap among the eight “pillars” in the south-east, the tilt of the Earth to the south-east (cau-sed by Kang Hui, interpreted by the commentarial tradition as another name for Gong Gong), and the closing and opening of Heaven in the north-west are all mentioned in the Chu ci (SBBY ed., 3/2b-3a; 3/5b-6a and 3/6b-7a respectively).

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36 Huai nan zi (SBBY ed., 3/1a-b; Major, trans. 1993: 62; see also Major 1978), this passage with


The Two-Fold Center The itineraries of the “Central Mountains” refer to two different geographical regions: those from the first to seventh cover the Yellow River basin, while those from the eighth to twelfth relate to the Yangzi basin. These two geographical groups are clearly demarcated by the alternation of the order of the itineraries.

The itineraries of the Yellow River basin alternate in a remarkably orderly way: those with odd ordinal numbers (C1, C3, C5, C7) extend to the east; those with even ordinal numbers (C2, C4, C6) go to the west. Eventually, these itineraries form an es-pecially regular and compact structure with attributes of symmetry (cf. Fig. 4, the lower part of the Center). These itineraries are relatively short, and due to the fre-quency of references to rivers, they can be located with a high degree of precision: they form a dense and prominent set around the Yellow and Luo Rivers. The singling out of this region is not accidental. Exactly at its center, at the northern bank of the Luo River, Chengzhou/Luoyi, one of the capitals of the Zhou dynasty (1046/45/4037 - 256 BC) was located. From the beginning of the Eastern Zhou period (770 BC) it was the only capital. It is firmly associated with the Center of the world in all the available descriptions of the Zhou dynasty in ancient texts.38.

The alternation order changes markedly in the itineraries covering the Yangzi basin (C8 goes to the north-east, C9 and C11 to the east, C10 to the west, and C12 to the south-east). It is noteworthy that the two groups of itineraries of the “Central Moun-tains” are not differentiated in their titles. This masked two-foldness of the Center is a highly interesting ideological characteristic of the representation of terrestrial space in the WZSJ, not least because the basins of the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers differed con-siderably in cultural and political traditions, the Yangzi basin being the area of Chu culture.39

The marginal status of the Yangzi basin from a Zhou cultural perspective can be minor changes is reproduced in the Lie zi (SBBY ed., 5/3b; Graham, trans. 1960: 96), and developed in the Lun heng (SBBY ed., 11/1a-2b; Forke, trans. 1907 [repr., 1962a]: 250-3). For analysis of this passage, cf. Allan 1991: 68 and 105; Field 1992: 105; Porter 1993: 82-5. 37 For the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, cf. Nivison 1990: 155-60. 38 For the foundation of Chengzhou/Luoyi as the new (or restored) Center as described in the “Shao gao” and “Luo gao” chapters of the Shang shu/Shu jing (“Classic of Documents”), cf. Legge, trans. 1865: 420-52]; Karlgren, trans. 1950: 47-57. Both chapters are traditionally attributed to the reign of King Cheng (1042/35-1006 BC). Even if dating from a considerably later time, they still seem to be the earliest references to this event found in classical texts. In its simplified version in the “Zhou ben ji” chapter of the Shi ji (Shi ji 1972, Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 133; Chavannes, trans. 1895: 247; Vyatkin and Taskin, trans. 1972: 190-1; Nienhauser, ed. 1994: 65-6 (§ 133)) Chengzhou/Luoyi is de-fined as the “Center of Underheaven” (Tianxia zhi zhong). In the Guo yu (“Speeches of Kingdoms”), in the opening section of the “Zheng yu” chapter (not earlier than 314 BC), an account of Western Zhou principalities is provided (SBBY ed., 16/1a; Taskin, trans. 1987: 238-43 (§ 209)) which sur-round Chengzhou/Luoyi as the Center.

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39 Cf. Lawton, ed. 1991; Cook and Major, eds. 1999.


clearly seen in the geographical distribution of itineraries marked by mountains in the most authoritative ancient Chinese terrestrial description, the “Yu gong”. The inequal-ity of the Yellow and Yangzi River basins is expressed here quantitatively: among a total of 9 itineraries, 6 marked by 20 mountains are situated in the Yellow River basin, while only 3 itineraries marked by 7 mountains are in the Yangzi basin.40

According to the WZSJ, in contrast, the Yangzi River basin is incorporated into the Center almost on equal terms with the Yellow River basin (a slight inequality in the number of itineraries – five and seven, respectively, is compensated for by the number of mountains – 111 and 86, respectively). This seems to reflect the considerable politi-cal and cultural changes that came with the foundation of the imperial order in China, when former Chu territories became part of the unified empire. However, as shown in the reconstructed scheme, the attempt to integrate the Yangzi basin into the Center did not wholly succeed in overcoming the deep differences between the two regions.

Itineraries are also found in the “Outside the Seas” section (one in each of its four cardinally-oriented chapters), but they are mostly marked by countries, and precise distances between the landmarks are not given. These four itineraries, as one can see from Fig. 4, make a sort of frame around those of the WZSJ.41

In sum, single mountains enumerated in the WZSJ are arranged into itineraries, itineraries into orderly cardinally-oriented sets, and these sets constitute an orderly “global” scheme. Therefore, the individual mountains here are constituent elements of a cosmogram conveying an ideal organization of terrestrial space. This organization is, of course, inspired by some characteristics of real topography (real mountains, natural irregularities of landscape), as one can see from the uneven distribution of mountains and the “imperfections” in the arrangement of itineraries. These real characteristics, however, were “processed” through a strong filter of cosmological patterns and prin-ciples. As a result, real mountains became markers of “positions” in an ideal terrestrial space, and, like the majority of “global” maps, were possibly combined with fantastic landmarks. Natural irregularities were also given a more balanced form. The system of itineraries is then a compromise between elements of real topography and cosmology, with the conceptual framework of the latter dominating.

2. A Landscape Underdetermined by Local Spirits The formal aspects of the arrangement of itineraries already give us much information

40 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 77-8, Fig. 10 (p. 100). The notion of North-South inequality is clearly seen from the names of principalities in the “Guo feng” (8th-6th centuries BC) section of the Shi jing (“Classic of Poems”), cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1991: 58-92.

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41 For a more detailed representation of these four itineraries, cf. Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: Fig. 6.14 (p. 798).


about the character of mapping in the WZSJ (building a cosmogram). In order to de-termine what specific kind of terrestrial space is mapped through this regular frame, an evaluation of its content is necessary.

The constituent elements of the derived cosmogram are sets of uniform features of the landscape – mountains arranged into an orderly system of itineraries. Therefore, we are dealing here with a representation of a landscape. The key to the nature of this landscape is provided by the “summaries” appended to the description of each itiner-ary. The “summaries” specify the appearance of guardian spirits (shen1) associated with the mountains of an itinerary, and detail sacrifices to be performed to these local spirits.42 This allows one to suppose that the itineraries outline a sacred space.

Let us examine the system of itineraries from the point of view as to how the appear-ance of their guardian spirits is described (cf. Fig. 5). The appearance of the spirits is a convenient characteristic for analysis, as it is given in the majority of cases (it is miss-ing in 7 itineraries out of a total of 26) and in a uniform way. The guardian spirits are described as hybrids of different animals, or an animal and a human being, for ex-ample, “bird’s body – dragon’s head” (niao shen long shou), “dragon’s body – human face” (long shen ren mian) in the first and the third itinerary of the “Southern Moun-tains” (S1 and S3), respectively.43

Despite being incomplete in a few places, the obtained scheme allows us to see clearly that certain kinds of appearance have “preferred” areas (cf. also Table 2). For example, guardian spirits with a snake’s body or, in one case, a snake’s tail, are found only in the North, those with a human head only in the Center, and those with a human body only in the East. The East is also distinguished by an emphasis on horns. In con-trast, a human face is evident in each of the five sections, being especially frequent in the Northern part of the Center. The areas for the dragon are the South, the Southern part of the Center and the East, the areas of the bird are the South and the Center, and those for swine (type 1 and 2, cf. classification of beings below) are the North and the Center.

Yet, in contrast to the arrangement of itineraries within their sections, which con-stitute distinctive sets, this does not occur in conjunction with the appearance of spir-its. Apart from the snake in the North, having a human body with horns in the East, and a human head in the Center, none of the types of appearances is reserved for a specific section. Instead, an overlapping of the types of appearances takes place. For

42 Some insights into the system of local spirits and sacrifices described in the WZSJ are made by Kukhtina 1982: 123-7. She, however, does not associate this system with the spatial arrangement of the itineraries.

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43 My analysis of the appearance of spirits is strictly limited to the WZSJ. For studies of beasts in an-cient Chinese culture, cf. Loewe 1978: 97-117; Sterckx 1996; 1998; 2000; 2002.


example, the bird is found in the South and both parts of the Center, and swine in both parts of the Center and the North. Thus, the bird and swine overlap in the Center. The Southern part of the Center is characterized by the largest variety of types of appear-ances.

As shown in Table 2, judging from the parts of the beings that are used for de-scribing the appearances of the local guardian spirits, these beings form three classes:

I. “Upper class” The human being whose face, head and body are used. The human face is the most frequently mentioned part (14 times) and it is found everywhere, whereas the head and body are relatively rare (both occur twice) and are regional char-acteristics.

II. “Middle class” Two particular animals – dragon and bird – are conspicuous. Both their heads and bodies are used. The bird’s head occurs only once compared to four refer-ences to its body, while the dragon’s head is mentioned more often than its body (4 and 3 times, respectively). From this point of view, the dragon resembles the human being (which shows clearly its peculiar status among animals),44 while the bird is closer to the next class of animals.

III. “Lower class” Other animals (snake, swine1 (zhi) and swine2 (shi),45 horse, sheep, bovine, beast). Mostly their bodies or such parts as horns and tail are used, but never the heads.

In the majority of cases the body is mentioned first and the head or face next. This order can be inversed only when the human face is mentioned, another indication that the status of the human being is the highest.46

There are three cases when the local guardian spirits are alike with the difference being that in two of these cases the order in which the body and the face are mentioned are inverted: the first and second itineraries of the “Northern Mountains” (N1: human face – snake’s body, N2: snake’s body – human face), the second and the eighth itin-eraries of the “Central Mountains” (C2: human face – bird’s body, C8: bird’s body – human face), and the first itinerary of the “Southern Mountains” and the twelfth itiner-ary of the “Central Mountains” (S1, C12: dragon’s head – bird’s body). It is notewor-thy that in each of these cases the similarity between guardian spirits occurs in 44 For the place of the dragon in Chinese culture, cf. Diény 1987. 45 For differing designations of swine in ancient China, cf. Erckes 1942: 68-84.

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46 There is one nonstandard case when human face is in the first position, and the head, apparently human, is in the second (“human face – three heads” ren mian san shou, the seventh itinerary (C7) of the “Central Mountains”.


neighboring itineraries.

These cases of “spirit duplication” provide a strong argument in favor of the pro-posed reconstruction of the spatial arrangement of the itineraries. Thus, the first and the second itineraries of the “Northern Mountains” are enumerated in the text one after the other, so that their neighboring location and the similarity of their spirits can be easily seen from their sequence in the text. The second and the eighth itinerary of the “Central Mountains”, and the first itinerary of the “Southern Mountains” and the twelfth itinerary of the “Central Mountains”, on the contrary are not sequential in the enumeration of the itineraries, and their neighboring location emerges only in their spatial arrangement, thus serving as a confirmation that this arrangement is “assem-bled” in the correct way.

This spatial arrangement of itineraries also allows one to see certain “regionality” in the consistency of describing the local guardian spirits. By “consistent” here, I mean the appearance being given for every itinerary, the single type of spirits in an itinerary, and the description being limited to the “body – head/face” formula (or vice versa) without many other details.

The descriptions are remarkably consistent in the South, the East (ignoring the fourth itinerary, for which the description of spirits is lost) and the southern part of the Center. The North, the West and the northern part of the Center are, in contrast, rather inconsistent. Thus, the appearances are missing in the first and fourth itineraries of the “Western Mountains” (W1, W4) and in the first, third, fifth and sixth itineraries of the northern part of the Center (C1, C3, C5, C6), though the sacrifices to be performed to these spirits are provided.

Different-looking spirits within a single itinerary are found in the second itinerary of the “Western Mountains” (W2: a) 10 spirits have “human face – horse’s body” (ren mian ma shen), b) 7 spirits have “human face – bovine’s body, four legs and one arm, rely on a stick for walking, are spirits of flying beasts” (ren mian niu shen, si zu yi bi, cao zhang yi xing, shi wei fei shou zhi shen)) and in the third itinerary of the “Northern Mountains” (N3: a) 20 spirits have “horse’s body – human face” (ma shen ren mian); b) 14 spirits have “swine1’s body, wear jade” (zhi shen zai yu); c) 10 spirits have “swine1’s body, eight legs and snake’s tail” (zhi shen ba zu she wei)), whereas two preceding itineraries of the “Northern Mountains”, as mentioned above, have, in con-trast, similar-looking spirits. The itineraries just mentioned with spirits of different appearance are distinguished by many “non-standard” details in the description of their appearances. At the same time, two groups of spirits in the third itinerary of the “Northern Mountains” (N3b, c) do not have such basic characteristics as a head or a face. At the same time, in all the cases where this characteristic is given in the North,

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the northern part of the Center and the West, it is always a “human face”, whereas in the South, the southern part of the Center and the East heads of animals are also found.

A somewhat similar case with spirits of different appearance is also found in the seventh itinerary of the Northern part of the Center (C7), where three singled out mountains (No 4, 9 and 10) have spirits with “human face – three heads”, while the other sixteen spirits have “swine2’s body – human face” (shi shen ren mian). In this case and in the second itinerary of the “Western Mountains”, the given number of spir-its corresponds to the total number of mountains. The context of the seventh itinerary of the “Central Mountains”, as well as the descriptions of sacrifices, show clearly that, according to the SHJ, one mountain should have one spirit. The only discrepancy, found in the third itinerary of the “Northern Mountains” (44 spirits – 47 mountains actually listed, 46 given as the total), apparently results from a corruption of the text.47 In the C7 itinerary spirits seem to be mixed, whereas in the W2 and N3 itineraries it seems more likely that there are parts of itineraries with differing spirits.

From the point of view of consistency in describing the appearances of spirits, there is a clear opposition between the North, the northern part of the Center and the West, on the one hand, and the South, the southern part of the Center and the East, on the other, which correlates somewhat with the asymmetry in the arrangement of itineraries discussed above. However, in the case of the spirits’ distribution, it is the South and the East, which have a “perfect” look, and the North and the West “imperfect”. One of the possible explanations for this inversion is that structural “imperfectness” in this part of terrestrial space (a way to convey the natural imperfection of landscape) is compensated for by “perfectness” in the arrangement of its spirits.

To summarize, the appearances of local spirits correspond to the itineraries as fol-lows:

(1) In the majority of cases, an itinerary is comprised of mountains that have spirits of the same appearance and similar sacrifices.

(2) Spirits of the same appearance can occur in neighboring itineraries when these itineraries cannot be represented as a single line with a dominant di-rection, but sacrifices in these cases are different, indicating that the spir-its are not completely identical.

(3) An itinerary can include spirits of different appearance when certain mountains have peculiar spirits (C7), or when an itinerary contains sec-tions with different spirits (W2, N3). In other words, different-looking spirits can form a group under the condition that the mountains they refer

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47 This point of view is expressed by Hao Yixing, cf. Shan hai jing jianshu, SBBY ed., 3/22a.


to form a line going in the same direction.

The system of “local” guardian spirits of the WZSJ is complemented by four guard-ian spirits of the cardinal directions described in the “summaries” of the corresponding cardinally-oriented chapters of “Outside the Seas”. The descriptions are similar to those of the spirits in the WZSJ, except that sacrifices are never in evidence, each of these spirits has a name, and each uses a certain vehicle (cf. Table 3).48

The derived cosmogram maps a dispersion of sacred powers over terrestrial space. A region submitting to a specific sacred power (group of spirits) is outlined by the de-lineation of its core by an itinerary. An itinerary, in its turn, is marked by a sequence of mountains. In this context it seems especially significant that the descriptions of the mountains focus on their supernatural attributes – strange-looking beings and things there possessing magical properties. Seen from the perspective of the sacred nature of the system of itineraries, mountains are points in terrestrial space that have sacred im-portance. It then becomes clear why, according to the “résumé” to the WZSJ, only 447 mountains out of the total of 5.370 mountains of the world are enumerated. The listed mountains are a selection of sacred points. Since the spirits are defined with respect to the features of landscape, I propose to define the reconstructed representation of ter-restrial space as a cosmogram of a spiritual landscape. This cosmogram is the core of the representation of terrestrial space in the SHJ.

It is necessary to stress here that the proposed definition only highlights the major attributes of this representation of space and is far from being exhaustive. Indeed, the representation of terrestrial space, as derived from the SHJ, belongs to “totalistic” con-ceptions (as defined by S.J. Tambiah following M. Mauss).49 Such conceptions simul-taneously embrace cosmological, religious, political, topographical, economic and other dimensions, which cannot be disaggregated, as being part of a single complexly interrelated whole.50 These dimensions are, however, differentiated rather sharply by Western analytical tradition. For this reason providing a comprehensive and adequate translation of them into analytical terms, as a researcher trained in this tradition is obliged to do, is extremely difficult.

48 A certain complementarity between the WZSJ and “Outside the Seas” and their correspondence as, respectively, the Center and periphery is pointed out by Meng Wentong 1962: 43-70, and supported by Suh Kyung Ho 1993: 99 and 302-9. The reconstructed system of itineraries and guardian spirits provides further evidence in favor of this hypothesis. 49 Cf. Tambiah 1985: 252-9.

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50 The “totalistic” character of conceiving of terrestrial space is especially manifest in late Shang cul-ture, cf. Keightley 2000.


II. Text as a Cosmogram

1. The Example of the Chu Silk Manuscript: A Cosmograph-Like Layout The first test for the derived scheme is whether it resembles any surviving schemes dating from about the same period of time. In this respect there is an excellent argu-ment in favor of the proposed reconstruction. Indeed, if we imagine pictures of spirits behind the descriptions of their appearance, the derived scheme immediately reminds us of the pictures of spirits found in the famous Chu Silk Manuscript (Chu bo shu, ca. 3rd century BC).51 This manuscript excavated in 1942 still enjoys considerable schol-arly interest.52 One of the reasons for this interest is the peculiar spatial layout of the manuscript.53

A set of twelve pictures accompanied by short textual passages is arranged into a square frame around the main text. Each spirit represents a month, and the accompa-nying textual passages elucidate the allowed or forbidden activities during the respec-tive month. The spirits are arranged into groups of three – three spirits at each side of the frame. The spirit to the left on each side, according to the accompanying elucida-tion, “controls” (si) one of the four seasons. This spirit corresponds to the last month of a season. Therefore, a side of the manuscript comprising three spirits-months repre-sents a season. Since the seasons correlate with the cardinal points, the arrangement of spirits is then implicitly cardinally-oriented. The arrangement of the twelve pictures of spirits is complemented by pictures of four trees, the latter, in contrast to the former, are not accompanied by textual passages. These four pictures are placed at the corners of the cardinally-oriented frame as “separators” between the seasons and markers of the semi-cardinal directions.

The main text placed in the center of the manuscript consists of two relatively long passages placed upside down with respect to each other. These two passages also deal with calendrical matters (the longer passage concerns the year, the shorter the seasons) considered in an astrological and cosmological context.54

The set of pictures delineates a tempo-spatial scheme – correlated structuring of

51 This dating is proposed by Donald Harper, cf. Loewe and Shaughnessy, eds. (1999: 845). 52 For seminal studies of the Chu Silk Manuscript, cf. Barnard 1972; 1973; Jao Tsung-i (Rao Zongyi) and Zeng Xiantong 1985; Li Ling 1985; Li Xueqin 1994: 37- 91. For the main problems raised in the studies of the Chu Silk Manuscript, cf. the “Dicussion” in Lawton, ed. 1991: 176-83. For a survey of studies of the manuscript followed by its transcription, cf. Li Ling 2000 [rev. of 1993]: 178-96. 53 I discuss the layout of the Chu Silk Manuscript in more detail in my paper published in the first issue of the journal Göttinger Beiträge zur Asienforschung (2001), cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001c: 96-9. This paper includes a copy of the manuscript, its reconstruction, transcription and the schematic representation of its pictures by Li Ling referred to above (Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001c, Figure 6 a, b, c, d on pp. 125-8, respectively).

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54 For translations of the Chu Silk Manuscript, cf. Barnard 1973; Li Ling and Cook 1999: 171-6.


space and time typical of traditional Chinese culture.55 As demonstrated by Li Ling,56 the scheme resembles the design of an astronomical/astrological instrument known from the Former Han dynasty – the so-called divination/diviner’s board or cos-mograph (shi1).57 A cosmograph consists of a square board representing the Earth and a round rotating board placed on its top and representing the Heaven,58 both boards supplied with several sets of degree markers. The degree markers necessarily show the orientation to the cardinal and semi-cardinal directions, especially prominent on the bottom terrestrial part of the cosmograph. Specifically, the four cardinal points corre-spond to the center of each side of the bottom board, the four semi-cardinal directions to its corners. The structure derived from the Chu Silk Manuscript is especially similar to one of the two types of cosmographs (cf. Fig. 6). It has a set of twelve degrees on the bottom board in addition to the necessarily prominent cardinal and semi-cardinal directions, and the Northern Dipper on the upper rotating part. The place of the “heav-enly” part on the Chu Silk Manuscript is occupied by the main text.59 The frame of pictures corresponds to the bottom board. Li Ling calls this arrangement of pictures a “pictorial cosmograph” (tu shi1), which in Chinese is an inverted shi1 tu (“cos-mograph design”).60

This elegant inversion highlights the instrumental character of the Chu Silk Manu-script, something that is, however, given little consideration in sinological literature. It should be noted that taking into account how the text was used and what its original users were supposed to do with the text is as important for understanding its meaning as a linguistically accurate translation of its content.61 Yet, scholars who are products of literary traditions in which the majority of texts are intended for reading rarely raise these questions when dealing with ancient texts.

55 For a list of tempo-spatial schemes, cf. Rickett 1985: 158-63, who calls them calendars. 56 Cf. Li Ling 1991; 2000 [rev. of 1993]: 180, reproduced in the Göttinger Beiträge zur Asienfor-schung, 1 (2001): 128; Li Ling and Cook 1999: 172. 57 For the cosmograph, cf. Harper 1978; Cullen 1980-1981; Field 1992; Li Ling 1991; 2000 [rev. of 1993]: 89-176; Major 1993: 39-43; 1999: 141-2; Li Ling and Cook 1999: 172. 58 The earliest occurrence of the classical formula “Heaven [corresponds to a] circle, Earth [cor-responds to a] square” (Tian yuan di fang) is found in the philosophical treatise Huai nan zi compiled shortly before the 139 BC, cf. Huai nan zi, SBBY ed, 3/9a, cf. also Huai nan zi, 3/1b; 15/3a. It is also found in the opening section of the astronomical and mathematical classic Zhou bi suan jing (com-piled ca. 50 BC – AD 100), cf. Qian Baozong, ed. 1963: 4. 59 For a list of similarities between the cosmograph and the layout of the Chu Silk Manuscript, cf. Li Ling 2000 [rev. of 1993]: 190-1. 60 This elegant inversion plays with the broad meaning of the character tu, which designates varying types of graphic representations – a chart, scheme, diagram, map, table, design, sketch, picture – that were apparently not distinguished clearly from each other and formed a single class. Chavannes (1903: 236) defines tu as “toutes les représentations graphiques quelles qu’elles soient”. For the impli-cations of the character tu, cf. Lackner 1990; 1992; 1996; 2000; Reiter 1990.

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61 The importance of this aspect of ancient texts is demonstrated by Sementsov 1981 using the e-xample of the upanisads.


They assume without much reflection that ancient texts are no different from con-temporary texts in this respect. The major difficulty here is that there is no way one can actually see what the original readers of texts, I would rather say “users”, actually did with them. We can only look for traces of its usage.

In the case of the Chu Silk Manuscript we have a rare example of a text that bears the clear stamp of a certain operational function. This text is characterized by an at-tribute that demands a certain action while reading it. Namely, it is laid out in such a way that reading the textual passages and observing the pictures requires rotating the manuscript (clockwise), or a circular movement by the reader or user around it, or a combination of these actions. Although we do not know the reading order of the tex-tual passages, and whether there was supposed to be a single definitive order at all, the result of these actions is quite obvious – the tailoring of time and space according to the model given in the textual layout. Since this tempo-spatial model is “controlled” by spirits, the space created after this model is of a sacred nature. Creation of this sa-cred space then means establishing relationships and correspondences between parts of time-space and spirits.

Seen from this perspective, the “pictorial cosmograph” is as much a tool to be used for tailoring space and time with respect to certain cosmological patterns, as the cos-mograph and other similar tools – divinatory schemes and the so-called “magic mir-rors”.62 The only difference between these pure instruments and the Chu Silk Manu-script is that the latter incorporates textual passages. This difference seems, however, to be something imposed by our ideas of a tool and a text on Chinese cultural tradition, rather than being characteristic of this tradition.

The SHJ is often regarded in relation to the Chu Silk Manuscript63, particularly by comparison of how spirits are described in the SHJ and how they are depicted on the Chu Silk Manuscript. The Chu Silk Manuscript also contains a few references to landmarks with respect to spirits and sacrifices64 in the same sense as is found in the WZSJ. In this paper I would like to draw attention to the striking typological similarity between how space is mapped by the “pictorial cosmograph” and by the scheme of the spiritual landscape derived from the WZSJ.

Before pointing out the similarities between the “pictorial cosmograph” and the scheme of the WZSJ, I would first like to mention aspects in which they differ. The

62 Cf. Li Ling 2000 [rev. of 1993]: 89-176; Kalinowski 1996. 63 For some discussion of the texts in relation to each other, cf., for example, the relatively recent stu-dies of the SHJ by Suh Kyung Ho 1993 and Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996.

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64 Cf. the latest translation of the Chu Silk Manuscript by Li Ling and Cook 1999: 171-2, parts of the text labeled here as “Chapter I, section C, and the entire Chapter II”. No specific mountains are men-tioned, only general references, e.g., “mountains and rivers” (shan chuan).


major difference is that the “pictorial cosmograph” is focused on temporal cycles, which implicitly correlate with cardinal orientation. The main text of the Chu Silk Manuscript, which, as just mentioned, occupies the place of the upper “heavenly” part of the cosmograph, deals mainly with celestial matters. In contrast, the SHJ in general and the scheme I derived from the WZSJ in particular is focused on terrestrial space. Correlations of this terrestrial space with temporal cycles and the Heaven requires a special study, which is beyond the scope of this paper.65

The similarities between the “pictorial cosmograph” and the scheme derived from the WZSJ are as follows:

- representation of a regular cardinally-oriented structure of space; - the sacred nature of this space; - the instrumental character of the spatial representation.

I have discussed the “process-oriented” character of the system of itineraries found in the WZSJ elsewhere.66 It is implied in the sequence of the itineraries, which provide an “algorithm” for assembling an orderly and balanced terrestrial organization. The general order of this sequence is shown on an additional diagram in Fig. 4 (lower right corner). First a circular tour around the four cardinally-oriented peripheral sections is made (beginning from the south to the west, then the north and the east), then a tour of the central section – first its northern part and then the southern, returning back to the initial point. Since the assembled space is fashioned with respect to the local spirits, the sequence of itineraries provides an “algorithm” for creating a sacred space.

2. “Graphic Representations” (Tu) Related to the Shan Hai Jing The instrumental character of a scheme necessarily requires its having a more or less handy form, such as, for example, that of the Chu Silk Manuscript. The itinerary scheme of the WZSJ, although derived rather easily, can hardly be immediately grasped from the extant version of the text. However, when studying texts that like the SHJ have survived in block-printed editions, one tends to forget that this relatively recent medium for writing could have considerably changed the previous forms of an-cient texts. As an illustration of such a change, let us imagine the spatial layout of the Chu Silk Manuscript “unfolded” into a linear textual sequence, the usual form of block-printed texts. The major effect of this transformation of the textual body is that the schematic structure and instrumental character explicit in the spatial layout of the

65 For some insights into these correlations in the SHJ, cf. Lu Sixian 1998; Golygina 1996: 43-53; Frühauf 1999: 43-5; cf. also 2000 (Vol. 2): 80-93. Golygina believes that the SHJ is a codified repre-sentation of celestial space. Her arguments, however, do not seem substantial enough for drawing this conclusion.

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66 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 78, 88.


text becomes hidden or even completely lost. It is then at least tempting to suggest a reverse process – that in the case of the WZSJ we are dealing with a textual form that lost some of its important original attributes.

Attempts to trace any earlier form of the SHJ are closely related to the problem of illustrations and maps (the latter also belong to the class of “graphic representations”) associated with this text.

The Alarming Absence of Extant Maps Related to the Shan Hai Jing In contrast to pictures attached to the SHJ, to which we shall later refer, there is an almost total absence of traditional maps – made prior to the diffusion of the Western cartography in China – related to this text.

The only map directly related to the SHJ is the so-called “wheel” map (in its several slightly differing Chinese and Korean variations) briefly mentioned above,67 which dates from the mid-18th century and bears clear indications of having been influenced by Western cartography. It is noteworthy that the map represents only a few of the landmarks mentioned in the SHJ – mostly far-away countries whose location in the text is rather vague, whereas the landmarks supplied with precise distances (moun-tains), and, therefore, the most convenient subject for mapping, are not in evidence. Instead of a detailed account of landmarks enumerated in the SHJ, the “wheel” map provides a general schematic view of the world derived from this text, namely the sys-tem of concentric zones.68 The map is, in effect, a curious attempt to adapt the tradi-tional schematic representation of terrestrial space to the form of representation char-acteristic of the maps of the world in Western cartography. As a result, the zones, tra-ditionally conceived of as a nest of concentric squares, are represented as concentric circles inscribed onto the general round shape of the map, and on one variation of the map such a representation of terrestrial space has superimposed on it meridians and parallels.

Moreover, the very idea that geographical maps related to the SHJ ever existed only appears in traditional scholarship about the time of the “wheel” maps. It was advanced by Bi Yuan (1730-1797) in his edition of the SHJ entitled Shanhaijing xinjiaozheng (New Collated and Corrected [Edition] of the SHJ) first published in 1781. The re-flections of Bi Yuan will be discussed below. Here I would simply like to draw atten-tion to the fact that this idea is found surprisingly late in traditional scholarship, al-lowing one to suggest here at least some indirect influence of Western science.

It should also be noted that initially the SHJ was considered as an unreliable source

67 Cf. footnote 11.

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68 For the concentric zones and the wheel map, cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2003: 43.


in imperial historiography, clearly demarcated from the official conception of di li (“terrestrial organization”).69 The change in appreciation of it occurred about the 5th century AD, when for a certain period of time (until the Song dynasty) it became re-garded as part of the di li corpus.70

In all these respects the SHJ contrasts markedly from the most authoritative ancient Chinese text dealing with geographical matters, the “Yu gong”, which serves as a con-ceptual basis of the di li corpus. A whole series of maps directly related to the “Yu gong” have survived, the earliest dating from the Song dynasty (960-1279 AD),71 and few references to any earlier maps related to this text are found in the dynastic histo-ries.72

In sum, a certain type of graphic representation usually related in one or another way to a text on geographical matters seems to be lacking in traditional scholarship of the SHJ. This relationship was established only when this text became regarded in the context of modern Western natural sciences. Since this approach dominates studies of the geographical information contained in the SHJ,73 it is not then surprising that Bi Yuan’s supposition further developed by Chinese scholars in the first half of the 20th century74 became taken for granted in sinological literature. As a result, the assump-tion that originally there were maps related to the SHJ is found in various studies by Western sinologists.75

69 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001a, b; [in print A, B]. 70 Cf. Chu Ping-yi 1990: 51-62. 71 Cf., for instance, one of the earliest Song maps, the famous Yu ji tu (“Map of Yu’s footprints”) en-graved on a stone stele in 1136 AD together with the Hua Yi tu (“Map of Chinese and barbarian [ter-ritories]”) placed on the other face of the stele. The Yu ji tu was reproduced with slight differences in 1142 AD. For an analysis of the Yu ji tu usually done in comparison with the Hua Yi tu, cf. the still seminal study by Chavannes 1903 (large-scale transcriptions of the maps are folded between pp. 18 and 19, first the Yu ji tu, then the Hua Yi tu), cf. also Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 547-9; Yee 1994: 46-8. Copies of rubbings of these maps are found in the majority of survey studies in the history of Chinese geography and cartography by Chinese scholars, cf., e.g., Cao Wanru et al. 1990 [repr., 1999], the Yu ji tu – plates 54-6 (photograph of the stone, rubbing, and transcription, respectively), the 1142 AD version of the map – plates 57-9, the Hua Yi tu – plates 60-2). Another early example are the Yugong jiuzhou qiangjie (“The Map of boundaries of the Nine Provinces, according to the ‘Yu gong’”) and the Yu dao1 shanchuan zhi tu (“Map of Yu’s paving mountains and rivers”) from the Liu jing tu (“Maps related to the Six Classics”) set of maps engraved on stone in 1229 AD. For this set of maps, cf. Cao Wanru et al. 1999, the rubbings of the maps are shown on plates 89-92, the stele on plate 93, the two maps are found on plates 89 and 90, respectively. For a study of these maps, cf. Wang Qianjin 1993: 83-90, the copies of rubbings from the atlas by Cao Wanru et al. 1999, are repro-duced on p. 88. Many later examples of maps related to Yu are found in the comprehensive series of atlases by Cao Wanru et al. 1990 [repr., 1999]; 1994 [repr., 1995]; 1997; cf. also Yan Ping et al. 1998; some examples are also found in Chen Cheng-siang (Chen Zhengxiang) 1979. 72 Cf. Chavannes 1903: 240-2; Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 534-6. 73 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2003: 36-8. 74 Wang Yizhong 1934; He Cijun 1934; Wang Yong 1938 [repr., 1998]: 16-35.

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75 E.g., Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 503; a study of medical knowledge in the Shan hai jing by


The only scholar to my knowledge who has ever questioned this assumption is Mi-chael Lackner.76 He has suggested that these maps might not have been simply of a purely geographical nature, but could also have possessed philosophical features in the sense of the attribution of corresponding “meanings” to certain “positions”. In other words, though he questions the purely geographical nature of these maps, he, too, does not doubt that maps or rather some sort of schemes existed.

Tracing the Myth of the “Lost” Maps in the Commentarial Tradition At first sight, the suggestion that maps originally existed seems to be highly plausible. Indeed, apart from the content of the SHJ, which makes one immediately think of a map, this suggestion relies on Chinese historiographical and commentarial traditions. Moreover, it has received some supporting evidence from recent archeological discov-eries.

1) The dynastic histories often mention maps no longer extant, and report a massive loss of ancient maps collected in the Qin and Han official archives after the fall of the Han empire.77 These references were impressively con-firmed by the recent finds of Qin and Han maps, giving impetus to a recon-sideration of the loss of ancient maps including those of the SHJ from a fresh perspective. For example, C.D.K. Yee in his survey of the history of Chinese cartography notes that the Qin and Han maps are all local maps, and that maps of the empire mentioned in contemporaneous and later sources did not survive from this time.78 He then no longer questions (as did E. Chavannes) their existence.

2) The SHJ has long been associated with “graphic representations” (tu). Sev-eral series of tu related to the SHJ survived from the Ming and Qing dynas-ties. All of them are “pictures” of creatures described in this text. Yet, since “map” and “picture” both belong to the class of “graphical representations”, formally Bi Yuan kept to the letter (or it would be more precise to say to the character) of the commentarial tradition of the SHJ.

However, according to the earliest available piece of scholarship related to the SHJ – the “Indications” (biao) by its editor, Liu Xin (ca. 46 BC - AD 23) – its origins are clearly derived from the “written notes”(ji) made during the “world-ordering” travels of the mythical emperor Yu. Whether the “indications” contains an allusion to any sort of graphic representations related to the SHJ is a matter of discussion, and

Schiffeler 1980: 43; a study of its illustrations by Fracasso 1988b: 93. 76 Lackner 1990: 139. 77 Cf. Chavannes 1903: 240-2; Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 534-6; Reiter 1990: 308.

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78 Cf. Yee 1994: 46.


none is mentioned here directly.79 A similar version of the SHJ’s origins is found in two other texts of a slightly later date, the Lun heng (“Making Statements and Bal-ancing [them]”) by Wang Chong (27 - ca. 100 AD) and the Wu Yue Chunqiu (“Springs and Autumns of Wu and Yue [kingdoms]”) attributed to Zhao Ye (mid 1st c. AD) briefly mentioned above.80 In all these texts the “written notes” are attributed to Yu’s assistants (whose names and number vary slightly between the texts), who are reported as making these notes simultaneously with Yu’s “world-ordering” actions.

The association of the SHJ with graphic representations was made somewhat later, most likely first by Zuo Si (ca. 3rd century AD) who made a link between this text and the Xia Cauldrons (ding) where “beings and things” (wu) were “figuratively repre-sented” (xiang), as described in the Zuo zhuan (“Zuo Narrative” – ca. 4th century BC?, the passage dated as the 3rd year of Xuan Gong (605 BC)). These figurative images of “beings and things” in their turn were fashioned after “graphically represented” (tu) “beings and things” sent from the “far-away lands” (yuan fang). Since this passage has long attracted great interest from sinologists,81 I do not provide a detailed analysis of it here. I would only like to stress that, according to the context of this passage, the rep-resented “beings and things” are local spirits.82 Landscape features mentioned further in the passage (“rivers, marshes, mountains, forests” – chuan ze shan lin) certainly do not belong to the “beings and things”. Consequently, “graphically representing” here means making pictures, sketches or diagrams of spirits. As a possible example of pic-tures of spirits one can take those drawn on the Chu Silk Manuscript. It should be taken into consideration, however, that drawings of such images depend heavily on the medium used (silk). The style of figurative representations and ornament on ancient Chinese bronze vessels implies schematic or diagrammatic representations of spirits (somewhat similar to those one can find in the “Daoist Treasury” – Dao zang). In any case, as pointed out by E.Chavannes, “Il n’est donc aucunement question ici de cartes géographiques”.83

A whole series of “graphic representations” of creatures described in the SHJ ex-isted about the time of Zuo Si or appeared shortly after. They are the subject of the

79 For the passage that might contain indications to some “visual representations”, cf. Fracasso 1988b: 94. 80 Cf. footnote 19. In these two texts the “written notes” are signified by the character ji1. 81 Cf. Legge, trans. 1872; Couvreur, trans. 1914 [repr., 1951]: 574-7; Watson, trans. 1989: 81-3. For its analysis (in many cases comprising a translation), cf. Chavannes 1903: 236-7; Kiang Chao-yuan 1937: 130-4; Wang Yong 1938 [repr., 1998]: 16-21; Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 503-4; Seidel 1983: 320-1; Harper 1985: 479; Fracasso 1988b: 93-4; 1988c: 93; Wu Hung 1989 [repr., 1992]: 92-6; Sterckx 1996: 18; Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 496-502; Campany 1996: 102-4. The SHJ is not menti-oned in this passage, or elsewhere in the Zuo zhuan. 82 This key aspect of this passage is pointed out by Harper 1985: 479.

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83 Chavannes 1903: 237.


collection of “appraisals of graphic representations” (tu zan) appended by Guo Pu (276-324 AD) to his edition of the text. They were also found in a now lost similar work (tu hua zan) by Zhang Jun (301-346), the title of which is especially noteworthy because of the distinction drawn between tu (“pictures, diagrams….”) and hua1 (ex-clusively “pictures”, reminiscent of the “drawing pictures” of spirits mentioned in the Han fei zi, philosophical treatise of the late 3rd c. BC).84 None of these “graphic repre-sentations” have survived.

The earliest extant “graphic representations” related to the SHJ date from the Ming dynasty. These “graphic representations” and those found in Qing editions of the text are all pictures.85 Although these late illustrations give some idea of how the pictures commented on by Guo Pu may have looked like, one should keep in mind that the lat-ter may have been considerably or even completely different, considering the pro-found cultural changes that occurred between the time of Guo Pu and the Ming dy-nasty, in particular changes in the (re)production of texts after the invention of block-printing.

Now let us take a closer look at the supposition by Bi Yuan. He outlines the step-by-step formation of the text in connection with the “graphic representations” in the beginning of his preface.86 He distinguishes the following stages:

1) The SHJ originates from what was “graphically represented” on the Caul-drons cast by Emperor Yu, and described in the passage found in the Zuo Zhuan. Bi Yuan concludes from this text that the “graphically represented” items included “names of countries” (guo ming), “mountains and rivers” (shan chuan) and “spirits and divinities, strange and amazing [matters]” (shen1 ling qi guai). In other words, according to Bi Yuan, the original “graphic representations” on the Cauldrons are mostly pictorial images with some textual interpolations. (It is, however, noteworthy that he mentions the latter (“names of countries”) first, even though they are nowhere in evidence in the passage from the Zuo zhuan).

2) The Cauldrons disappeared during the Qin dynasty. People living prior to this event seem to have been able to “elucidate” (shuo) on these “graphic repre-sentations” and wrote down their elucidations on bamboo slips. This is how the version of 13 pian (“bound rolls of bamboo slips”) mentioned in the Qi lüe (“Seven Outlines”) by Liu Xiang (edited by Liu Xin and incorporated into the bibliographical treatise (“Yi wen zhi”) of the Han shu (“History of

84 Hanfeizi jijie, ZZJC ed., p. 202; Liao, trans. 1959: 40. 85 For an account of lost and extant pictures of the SHJ, cf. Fracasso 1988b: 94-6.

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86 Bi Yuan 1977: 1.


the [Former] Han [Dynasty]”) appeared.

3) Liu Xin took this text and added five more chapters-pian to it, making a total of 18 pian. (It is noteworthy that Bi Yuan mentions Liu Xiang and not Liu Xin with regard to the Qi lüe. This enables him to avoid the discrepancy be-tween the 13 pian in the bibliographical treatise of the Han shu and the 18 pian in Liu Xin’s edition.) Liu Xin had at his disposal Han “graphic repre-sentations” (apparently pictures), quite different from the original “graphic representations” on the Nine Cauldrons. He looked at the Han “graphic rep-resentations” while writing his additional chapters to the SHJ. The “ap-praisals” by Guo Pu and Zhang Zun refer to these pictures.

After this general outline Bi Yuan makes a statement concerning the maps. He says “[…] the 34-pian [version of] the WZSJ of the SHJ in antiquity [was] ‘graphic repre-sentation(s)’ of lands and earth” (… Shan hai jing Wu zang shan jing san shi si pian, gu zhe tu1 di zhi tu). “Graphic representation of lands and earth” (tu1 di zhi tu) is a longer and more elegant variation of “terrestrial graphic representation” (di tu, he mentions this simplified variation farther along in his “Preface”) at the time of Bi Yuan, standing for a geographical map. In other words, the WZSJ in its earliest ver-sion on the “bound rolls of bamboo slips” was, according to Bi Yuan, a map (or maps). This key statement became the starting point for further reflections on maps in relation to the SHJ by Bi Yuan himself and his followers. Bi Yuan first compares WZSJ map(s) to those referred to in the Zhou li (“Zhou Rituals”, compiled about the 3rd c. BC) and the philosophical treatise Guan zi (compiled about the end of the 1st c. BC).87 Then he meticulously describes the traces of the map(s) in the extant form of the WZSJ found in the accounts of mountains, each bearing the common title jing. (I shall discuss this characteristic of the textual structure of the WZSJ below). He regards these accounts as the result of the later transformation of map(s) into text (shu). He also points out that all these accounts being of the jing category (lei) assured the sur-vival of the text until the present time.88

It should be noted that Bi Yuan’s derivation of the origins of the SHJ from the Cauldrons described in the Zuo zhuan in many ways resembles that by Yang Shen

87 This point in Bi Yuan’s speculations was elaborated on in the discussion of the relation between the so-called “Maps for mastering tribute” (Zhi gong tu) and the WZSJ map, cf. Wang Yizhong 1934; He Cijun 1934; Wang Yong 1938 [repr., 1998]: 21-5.

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88 It is surprising that Bi Yuan when making his statement about the map(s) with respect to the WZSJ does not refer to the regular spatial arrangement of the Nine Cauldrons (each representing one of the “Nine Provinces”). The most likely reason is that such an arrangement is not explicitly mentioned in the Zuo zhuan. It began to be pointed out in later reflections on the Nine Cauldrons, in particular in relation to their “re-casting” in 696 or 697 AD for the Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty. On these tripods, cf. Fracasso 1988c: esp. 92-3.


(1488-1559).89 The latter, however, does not draw any conclusions about maps. When Bi Yuan uses a single character tu (“graphic representations”), he mostly means “pic-ture”, and when he mentions maps, he adds the adjective “terrestrial”.

When establishing his link between the Cauldrons and the maps, Bi Yuan may have taken into consideration the idea that the Nine Cauldrons represented the “Nine Prov-inces”. According to this idea the set of Cauldrons was arranged in a regular car-dinally-oriented way. Each Cauldron corresponded to a check of the 3x3 grid, and hence formed a sort of map of the “Nine Provinces”. For such an arrangement of the Cauldrons, as well as their direct relation to the “Nine Provinces”, there is, however, no evidence in the passage from the Zuo zhuan. The idea became explicit much later; in particular, such reflections are found in relation to the Nine Cauldrons cast in 697 AD for Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty, which were said to be modeled on the an-cient Cauldrons.

Having described the stages of the evolution of the textual division of the SHJ, from the 34 “bound rolls of bamboo slips” reconstructed by himself to the 18 “rolls” men-tioned in the edition by Liu Xin (to be discussed in detail below), Bi Yuan once again returns back to the “graphic representations”.90 In particular, he says that the “graphic representations” (pictures) “elucidated” (shuo) in the “Outside the Seas” and “Inside the Seas” sections of the 13 “bound rolls of bamboo slips” edition are those that were found on Emperor Yu’s Cauldrons. “Graphic representations” (pictures) “elucidated” in the last 5 chapters of the text (the “Great Wilderness” and the last chapter of “Inside the Seas”) date from the Han dynasty. He further concludes that the pictures were the major reason for classifying the SHJ under the Xing fa (“Methods of forms”) section of the Qi lue bibliography, although no explicit references to “graphic representations” are found in the outline of this section.91

In sum, Bi Yuan distinguishes three types of “graphic representations” related to the SHJ:

I. Original “graphic representations” found on Emperor Yu’s Cauldrons.

I.a Some of these original “graphic representations” generated secondary “graphic representations” – the WZSJ map(s). At the same time elucidations (shuo) on the original “graphic representations” found on the Cauldrons (ap-parently the pictorial images among them) constituted “Outside the Seas” and the first four chapters of “Inside the Seas”. These map(s) and elucida-

89 This similarity is pointed out by Wang Yong, who first cites Yang Shen and then analyses the out-line of the textual formation of the SHJ by Bi Yuan, cf. Wang Yong 1938 [repr., 1998]: 16-21. 90 Bi Yuan 1977: 7, the conclusion to the “Shanhaijing gu jin ben pianmu kao (Exploration on the table of contents of the ancient and modern editions of the SHJ)”.

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91 Han shu 1975, Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 1774-5.


tions became the early version of the text on the “bound rolls of bamboo slips”.

II. Han “graphic representations” – pictures the elucidation of which constituted the last 5 chapters of the text composed by Liu Xin. These are the pictures “appraised” by Guo Pu and Zhang Zun.

III. Later “graphic representations” – pictures made from the Liang dynasty (AD 502-557) onward.

This outline of the SHJ’s formation is, in effect, an attempt to unify the references to the text accumulated in traditional sources and scholarship into a coherent sequence, and such attempts can rarely succeed without some “cheating”. In particular, Bi Yuan placed first the association of the text with the Nine Cauldrons, one that was estab-lished rather late and is not mentioned by Liu Xin (nor is the SHJ is mentioned in the Zuo zhuan). This association, however, somehow matched Liu Xin’s derivation of the SHJ from the time of Emperor Yu. Bi Yuan avoided referring to the “written notes” (ji) made during Yu’s travels considered by Liu Xin as a sort of proto-text, but pointed out his rather ambiguous allusion to visual representations. He also never mentions the attitude towards this text as being unreliable in early imperial historiography.92 There-fore, the initial point of his argumentation is the most doubtful.

This, however, does not mean that the link between the SHJ and the passage from the Zuo zhuan is entirely groundless. On the contrary, they share the highly important feature that they both focus on the local spirits.

The descriptions of spirits in the SHJ, as shown in part I, §2 of this paper, are rather “picture-like”. As mentioned above, the appearance of the spirits is, as a rule, given ac-cording to the “animal/human body – animal head/human face or head” model. If other detail is given, it mostly concerns other constituent elements of the creature’s shape (e.g., horns, tail, legs). It is noteworthy that with one exception the color is never mentioned.

Such descriptions seem to be addressed to a “reader” who is able to compose an image of the creature (at least in his mind) from constituent elements of some more or less “standard” pictures of animals and people. One could also suggest that these descriptions accompanied original pictures or substituted these pictures. The suggestion that the SHJ originally incorporated pictures is elaborated by Hwang Ming-Chorng with respect to parts of the Hai jing.93 The Chu Silk Manuscript combining pictures of spirits and eluci-dations of these pictures serves as important support in favor of this suggestion. Further support may be seen in the totals of characters in the SHJ, which show that the Guo Pu

92 Cf. Bi Yuan 1977: 1.

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93 Cf. Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 506-9.


edition of the WZSJ ended up more than 5.000 characters longer (ca. 25%) than the Liu Xin edition. Such an increase in the textual body might have resulted from having pic-tures substituted by text.

All these arguments, plausible as they may seem, are, however, outweighed by the re-strictions imposed on making illustrations by the media on which the texts were written. Incorporating a series of illustrations into the textual body seems rather difficult to effect on bamboo slips, which were the first medium used for writing down the SHJ. Indeed, as one can see from a representative number of bamboo slips from archeological finds, only one example of making an illustration on bamboo slips has been discovered so far, the so-called “human being character” (ren zi), a diagram incorporated into the divinatory tables from Shuihudi (late 3rd c. BC).94 It should be noted that this rough sketch of a human body is hardly comparable to the sophisticated pictures found in the ancient silk manu-scripts.

The suggestion that the SHJ contained pictures, then, can only be considered for its versions written on silk. These versions are derived from those on bamboo slips, and the earliest seems to be that of 18 juan (“silk scrolls”) by Guo Pu. The “appraisals” of pic-tures by Guo Pu confirm that pictures did indeed exist at the time he was editing the text. It is, however, noteworthy that his “appraisals” constitute an appendix to the main text. The pictures then most likely existed separately from the text, rather than being incorpo-rated into it. These illustrations seem to appear as the result of reflections on what is writ-ten in the text, rather then having served as an inspiration of its composition.

3. The Textual Body of the Shan Hai Jing as a Cosmogram and Some Similar Cases

Now let us take a closer look at how the textual body of the Chu Silk Manuscript and the SHJ are organized. The textual passages of the Chu Silk Manuscript are as much subjects for spatial arrangement and cardinal orientation as the pictures. This attribute of textual organization realized in the case of the Chu Silk Manuscript through its spa-tial layout is, in effect, explicitly present in the textual structure of the SHJ.

As mentioned above and as one can see from the table of contents of the SHJ (cf. Table 1), its textual structure is remarkably regular and consistent. This characteristic applies to each level of the textual structure, in particular, the orderly lists of land-marks corresponding to sub-chapters in the WZSJ and chapters in the Hai jing, and the orderly arrangement of these lists within the two parts of the text. The principle un-derlying all these arrangements, as demonstrated in the example of the WZSJ, is purely and exclusively “spatial”, and this principle is stated in a clear, straightforward

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94 Cf. Li Ling 2000: 204, 206.


and consistent way in the titles of chapters and sub-chapters. Indeed, each chapter and sub-chapter is given a title that refers it to a section of a certain terrestrial zone, and each of these sections is oriented to the cardinal directions. In sum, the textual struc-ture of the SHJ meticulously emulates an orderly spatial scheme.95 In other words, the titles of chapters and sub-chapters serve as indicators to “positions” attributed to the constituent elements of this scheme (e.g., “Itineraries of Eastern Mountains” – Dong shan jing). Moreover, the titles of chapters of the “Itineraries of Seas” are character-ized by a rather striking feature, one that seems to have been completely overlooked in the numerous translations of this text. That is to say, these titles simply indicate the cardinally-oriented placement of the corresponding chapters. For instance, the Hai wai xi jing literally means the “Western Itinerary of Outside the Seas”, rather than the “Classic/Book of Western Outside the Seas”, the sense it is attributed in the majority of translations.

Although the textual spatiality of the SHJ has been given little consideration in most studies and translations of it, the outlines of a global scheme derived from this text show, in effect, a spatial placement of its chapters. The global scheme becomes a pure outline of the spatial textual structure when the titles of chapters in Chinese are used.96 Authors concerned with these global schemes, however, do not seem to recog-nize this fact.

Seen from the perspective of its textual structure, the SHJ can be compared to the “You guan” chapter of the philosophical treatise Guan zi. The “You guan” is divided into textual sections that have explicit references to the arrangement of these sections with respect to the four cardinal directions and the Center. These references given at the end of the textual sections served as a basis for the reconstruction of its original spatial layout by Guo Moruo and Wen Yiduo.97 Slightly differing reconstructions were further proposed by Wang Meng-e, Li Ling and Hwang Ming-Chorng.98 The recon-structed textual layout is considered to be the plan of the Dark Palace (Xuan gong tu). The title of the chapter originally contained the characters xuan gong, which were mis-takenly replaced by similarly looking characters you guan, so the chapter should be entitled the “Dark Palace”.

A similar principle of textual tailoring – with respect to a set of “positions” oriented to the cardinal directions – is present in the opening section of the Ming tang wei (“Positions in the Luminous Hall”) chapter of the Li ji (“Records on Rituals”, com-piled maybe as late as the 1st c. AD). The reconstruction of its spatial layout delineates

95 I discuss the textual structure of the SHJ in more detail in Dorofeeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 69-71. 96 Cf. Major 1973: 99-100; Fracasso 1983, facing p. 660; Suh Kyung Ho 1993: 302-9. 97 Cf. its analysis by Rickett 1985: 148-92.

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98 Cf. Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 728-9.


a plan of the Luminous Hall (Ming tang), the counterpart of the Dark Palace.99 The reconstructed layout is strikingly similar to that found on the so-called Mausoleum Plan (Zhao yu tu, the late 4th c. BC) engraved on a bronze plate.100

The SHJ is, however, distinguished from all these texts by its considerable length. It could hardly be laid out on a single piece of any writing medium used in ancient China, such as, for example, a piece of silk, suggested by W. Allyn Rickett as a suffi-cient surface for the layout of the “You guan”.101 He, however, underestimated the mobility and reconfigurative properties of certain media used for writing in ancient China, especially the bound rolls of bamboo slips.

In this respect the textual structure of the SHJ is characterized by another interest-ing feature also not receiving much attention in studies of it. This feature concerns the rarely considered “material” aspect of the text, namely, the media it was written on prior to block-printing, and the difference this makes. As mentioned above, the extant version supposed to be based on the edition by Guo Pu includes 18 chapters, each chapter corresponding to a “silk scroll”. These 18 “silk scrolls” in their turn originate from the 18 “bound rolls of bamboo slips” in the edition by Liu Xin. This means that prior to block-printed editions the chapters of the SHJ were separate material units, each unit “labeled” by a title allocating it to a certain spatial “position”. One can then suggest that such chapters could be assembled into a cardinally-oriented layout based on the outlines of the textual structure of the SHJ.

Some traces of such manipulation of textual parts that existed in the form of sepa-rate material units, may be seen on the Chu Silk Manuscript. Its complex spatial layout might have originated from manipulation with bound rolls of bamboo slips.102 In any case, such an elaborate arrangement represented a developed practice of manipulating textual passages.

The evidence that such reconfigurative practices actually existed is found in the “History of the Song Dynasty” (Song shu) by Shen Yue (AD 441-513).103 Although this source dates from several centuries later than the earliest versions of the SHJ, it

99 I discussed this reconstruction at the 9th International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia, Singapore, 23-27.08.1999. For other references to the Ming tang in Chinese texts and its role as a cosmographic conception, cf. Maspero 1948-1951; Soothill 1951: 84-96; Sickman and Soper 1956: 212; Henderson 1984: 59-87; 1994: 212-6; Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996; Shatzman Steinhardt 1999: 15-6. 100 I discuss a series of spatially organized ancient Chinese texts (survived layouts and some recon-structions) in more detail elsewhere (Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001c). This paper includes illustrations of these texts. 101 Cf. Rickett 1985: 152. 102 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001c: 98.

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103 Cf. Song shu 1974 [repr., 1983], Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 2167 (ch. 85); Chavannes 1903: 243-4; Wang Yong 1938 [repr., 1998]: 34-6.


still can be taken into consideration, since during this time the same writing media were still used. The described reconfiguration is carried out with an object mapping a terrestrial space – a map on wooden plates made by Xie Zhuang (421-466). It should also be noted that Xie Zhuang was an older contemporary of Shen Yue, so that the latter may have even seen the map he describes. The map had a square shape and con-sisted of several wooden plates. When these plates were “separated” (li), the “prov-inces” (zhou) became “divided” from each other (bie) and the “commanderies” (jun, a sub-division of the “provinces”) became “isolated” (shu, literally “decapitated”). In other words, separate plates served as local maps. When they were “assembled” (he) into a single whole, they constituted a “global” map. It is noteworthy that the “seg-mentation” of the “global” map into the local maps occurred on two levels – separa-tion of the general map into the maps of the “provinces”, and then further separation of the maps of the “provinces” into the maps of “commanderies”. This allowed a wide range of manipulations, such as singling out a particular “province” or a group of “provinces”.

The hypothesis that the chapters of the SHJ could have been engaged in the same sort of “jeu de patience” (as defined by Edouard Chavannes) requires a meticulous analysis of each piece of the textual body of the SHJ, which is far beyond the scope of this paper. It is, however, possible to outline some directions of this analysis.

Since the above discussion has been mostly focussed on the WZSJ, let us recon-sider its textual divisions from the perspective of its original “material” form. The general cardinally-oriented layout of the five chapters (= “bound rolls of bamboo slips” or “silk scroll”) of the WZSJ is shown on Fig. 3. Taking into consideration the length of the chapters,104 each would make a relatively long “bound roll of bamboo slips” or “silk scroll”. It is, however, necessary to consider that, in contrast to a “silk scroll”, a “bound roll of bamboo slips” is distinguished by a high transpositional po-tential. Specifically, the segmental structure of the “bound rolls of bamboo slips” al-lows one to make easy rearrangements of the sets of slips within a “roll”, to add on to a “roll”, to unite a few “rolls” together, and to separate a “roll” into several parts.105

The chapters of the WZSJ in the form of the “bound rolls of bamboo slips” would, indeed, be prone to sub-division. Apart from their rather considerable length, each consists of clearly demarcated sub-chapters – lists of mountains that are labeled by a title at the beginning of the list, and given “summaries” at the end.

There is also some evidence for believing that the division of the text into five long

104 For the number of characters in the chapters of the WZSJ, cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995, Table 3 (p. 92).

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105 Cf. Maeder 1992: 27-9, 81-2.


“bound rolls of bamboo slips” comprising sub-divisions, the structure apparently im-posed by Liu Xin, originated from a division into a considerably larger number of “bound rolls of bamboo slips”. Indeed, as mentioned above, Liu Xin reports having transformed the original 32 “bound rolls of bamboo slips” into 18, but never mentions that he suppressed any “rolls” or their parts. It seems then most likely that his editorial work consisted mostly in restructuring and rearranging. Bi Yuan suggests that 32 is a mistake for 34. The 34 “bound rolls of bamboo slips”, according to Bi Yuan, included the 26 sub-chapters of the WZSJ and the 8 first chapters of the Hai jing. First Liu Xin made 5 “rolls” out of the 26 shorter ones in the WZSJ, and added to them the 8 “rolls” (this makes up the version of the 13 “rolls” referred to in the bibliographical treatise of the Han shu).106 Then he composed the 5 last “rolls” of the Hai jing, making the total of the 18 “rolls”.107

An argument in favor of the suggestion that each list of mountains of the WZSJ originally constituted a separate “roll” is found in the numbers of characters in the chapters and sub-chapters of the SHJ. Indeed, the sub-chapters in the WZSJ are com-parable in their length to the chapters of the Hai jing.108

As mentioned above, each list consists of descriptions of successive mountains, and the successions of mountains delineate itineraries, each characterized by a dominant direction. A description of each mountain forms a clearly demarcated “paragraph”, so that a list looks like a chain of such “paragraphs” – similar to the itineraries delineated by chains of mountains. A list of mountains, taken as a separate material unit, would then materially represent an itinerary. Serving as material representations of the itiner-aries, the lists can be laid out according to the cardinally-oriented system of itineraries, as shown in Fig. 4. The direction of an itinerary would correspond in such a spatial textual layout to the direction of the reading of the respective list. In other words, such a layout of the WZSJ would emulate the system of itineraries delineated in this text.

The system of itineraries of the WZSJ revealed, as well as its textual structure rig-idly emulating this system, allows one to reconsider the meaning of the character jing (literally “warp”) in the titles of the textual divisions of the SHJ. The SHJ is dis-tinguished by the usage of the character jing throughout the text for marking all the units of its textual division apart from “paragraphs” – the entire text, its parts, chapters and sub-chapters. This character is usually a standard signification of a certain type of

106 It is noteworthy that among the six texts listed here, all the texts with the exception of the SHJ are reported to be written down on “silk scrolls”. This points to a particular importance of keeping the “bound rolls of bamboo slips” as a writing medium for the SHJ (cf. Han shu 1975, Ershisi shi 1972-1977 ed., p. 1774). 107 Bi Yuan 1977: 5-6, “Shan hai jing gu jin ben pian mu kao (Exploration on the table of contents of the ancient and modern editions of the SHJ)”.

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108 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995, Tables 3 and 4 (pp. 92 and 93 respectively).


text, namely, a text of recognized importance in traditional Chinese literary culture, and is used in this case in the sense of “canon” or “classic”. The SHJ, as far as I know, provides the only example of this character being used in such a persistent and regular way at the several levels of its textual division. Such usage makes the translation of jing as “canon” or “classic” and the even a more neutral “book” rather awkward, and, as mentioned at the beginning of this paper, several scholars have already attempted to translate it in a different way. Moreover, as mentioned above, the SHJ was not highly thought of in early official historiography, that is about the time when the label jing started to be applied to texts of recognized authority (such as, for instance, the “Clas-sic of Songs” (Shi jing) and other Confucian classics). This is another reason why the meaning “canon” or “classic” does not fit well in this case.109

The character jing, however, has another secondary meaning which is even closer to its primary meaning “warp” than “classic” and “canon”, that of a “principal route”. This meaning seems to fit perfectly well in the case of the SHJ, if seen as a set of de-scriptions of the revealed itineraries. The usage of jing in the sense of a “principal route” appears during the late Warring States (475/403-221 BC) – the Early Han (206/202 BC – AD 8), that is, about the time of compilation of the SHJ. For instance, jing occurs in this sense in the “Kao gong ji” (“Records on Investigating Crafts”) chapter of the Zhou li (“Zhou rituals”)110 where it designates the nine “lengthwise routes” inside the capital city, namely, the routes tracing it in the north-south direction (they are complemented by the nine “crosswise routes” – wei1 “weft”).111 It is espe-cially noteworthy that similar to the “itineraries” in the SHJ, the occurrence of jing in the “Kao gong ji” implies an orderly arrangement of a set of routes, with the differ-ence that in the SHJ all the itineraries are referred to as jing independently of their di-rection.

The use of the character jing in the sense of “itinerary” also brings to mind the character jing1 (differing from jing in its radical), but sharing with it the meaning of a “route”. According to the Shuo wen (“Elucidating on Writing”) dictionary (ca. 1st AD), jing1 is a “pedestrian route” (bu dao ye). A commentary by Xu Kai (920-974 AD) adds that it is “a route that does not accept chariots, that is why [it is] called pe-destrian route” (dao bu1 rong che, gu yue bu dao). Furthermore, jing1 seems to occur in the meaning of a principle “pedestrian path” in the “Ming gui xia” (“Elucidating on spirits or clairvoyant spirits, part III”) chapter of the philosophical treatise Mo zi (ca. 5th-4th centuries BC). It is noteworthy that this chapter shares some parallels with the

109 Yet, as mentioned above, Bi Yuan believed that the accounts of mountains all being of the jing category assured the preservation of the text. 110 Cf. Boltz 1993: esp. 25.

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111 Cf. Lin Yin 1984: 471; Biot, trans. 1851 [repr., 1969]: 556 (§ 23).


SHJ in the conceiving of features with respect to spirits.112 Jing1 is mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, in the combination “routes and roads, principle paths” (dao lu shuai jing1), implying a certain opposition between “routes and roads” (dao lu) and the “principle paths” (shuai jing1), the former most likely being intended for chariots and the latter for pedestrians only.113

Paths and roads (jing1 lu) also occur in the definition of the Trigram Gen sym-bolizing mountain(s) found in the Shuo gua (“Elucidating on Trigrams”, the late War-ring States period), § 16: “Gen is mountain(s); is paths and roads,…” (Gen wei shan, wei jing1 lu,…). This definition establishes a relation between mountains (shan) and paths (jing1) especially interesting in the context of the system of itineraries marked by mountains, and the usage of jing in the SHJ.

The link of the character jing to the semantic field of “route/path”, more often than not overlooked in sinological literature, needs a special study which is far beyond the scope of this paper. The results of the present investigation into the system of itinerar-ies of the SHJ and its relation to the structure of the text provide highly interesting ma-terial for such a study.

The proposed reconstruction of the textual layout of the WZSJ, in effect, has much in common with the supposition by Bi Yuan that the earliest version of the WZSJ on “bound rolls of bamboo slips” was a map (or maps). The major difference here is that Bi Yuan derives the text of the SHJ from “graphic representations”. According to him, the text was written as “elucidations” (shuo) on “graphic representations”. Relying on the analysis of references to the SHJ in Chinese cultural tradition, I give priority to the text, at the same time pointing out that the original form of the text had attributes of a “graphic representation”. I suggest that its original layout constituted a terrestrial scheme or map (its reconfigurative possibilities allowed making different schemes and maps), and that later pictures were aimed at illustrating descriptions found in the text.

The resulting textual layout would somewhat resemble the layout of textual pas-sages found in the Chu Silk Manuscript. However, in contrast to this considerably shorter text, the layout of the WZSJ existed only when the text was used and had to be “deconstructed” into constituent elements due to its considerable length. Some parts of this layout might have been conserved in the versions on “silk scrolls” that provided a larger space for writing, but none of these versions has survived.114 The spatial layout of the WZSJ especially resembles the reconstruction of the “Dark Palace” from the

112 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 1995: 87. 113 Cf. Mozi xianggu, ZZJC ed., p. 138.

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114 When silk started to be used as a writing medium, combining text and picture could be considered. From this point of view it seems more likely that the pictures were derived from the text rather than the text originating from pictures.


“You guan” – an orderly spatial scheme of the palace filled out with text. The spatial layout of the lists of mountains would then constitute an orderly spatial scheme repre-senting the “central” part of the world, whose parts are delineated and filled out by text. Complemented by the four itineraries delineated by the four chapters of “Outside the Seas” it would constitute a “global” scheme.115

Now let us return to the references to the lost ancient maps. As mentioned above, maps belonged to a broad class of “graphic representations”. Yet, relatively early, about the 3rd century BC, they became differentiated into a special sub-class – “ter-restrial graphic representations” (di tu).116 Although this term was not applied consis-tently, and quite often still reduced to the single character tu, it still shows a certain demarcation from the other types of “graphic representations”.

Traditional Chinese maps share many common features with spatial schemes. In particular, the majority of “global” maps known from Song and later dynasties have clear attributes of orderly survey schemes.117 In effect, many references to ancient [di] tu understood as maps118 can equally imply maps and orderly survey schemes. The latter seem to be more likely when “global” mapping is mentioned. A good example is provided by the often cited reference to a “graphic representation” of Tianxia (Under Heaven) at the beginning of the Zhi fang shi “Official in Charge of the Cardinal Di-rections” chapter of the Zhou li, which is followed by a description of the system of the “Nine Provinces” that has clear attributes of an orderly scheme.

115 The original structure of the SHJ is also discussed in Kukhtina 1982. Her hypothesis, however, builds on the assumption that this text was originally engraved on the “Nine Cauldrons”. As a result, she discusses the possible arrangement of the text on a set of cauldrons and does not mention other, ap-parently later from her point of view, writing media for writing. As mentioned above, this assumption taken for granted in sinological literature originates from the interpretation of the origins of the text dating from as late as the 3rd century AD. Rather surprisingly, Kukhtina does not pay much attention to the spatial titles of chapters and their corresponding layout. Her reconstruction does not include cardinal orientation or attributes of a general spatial scheme. At the same time, she makes interesting observations on the reconfigurative possibilities implied in the textual division of the SHJ. 116 The earliest occurrences of the term di tu are found in late Warring States – Early Han texts: the Zhan guo ce (“Plans of the Warring Kingdoms”, SBBY ed., 19/2b (§218); 31/5b & 6a (§440), the philosophical treatise Guan zi, which contains a special chapter (No 27) concerned with this term (SBBY ed., 10/7a-8a), and the Zhou li (“Zhou Rituals”, for a list with comments of its multiple occur-rences here, cf. Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 534. As can be clearly seen from comparison with the other occurrences of the character tu in these texts, di is quite often omitted in similar constructions, and, therefore, facultative. At least some of these early usages of di tu imply a cosmogram rather than referring to a map (cf., e.g., citations from the Zhou li by Chavannes 1903: 237). Needham and Wang Ling (1959), however, interpret all these early occurrences as “geographical maps”. 117 Good examples of such schemes are provided by the Hua Yi tu (“Map of Chinese and barbarian [territories]”), Yugong jiuzhou qiangjie (“The Map of boundaries of the Nine Provinces, according to the ‘Yu gong’”) and the Yu dao shanchuan zhi tu (“Map of Yu's paving mountains and rivers”) men-tioned above (cf. footnote 71). The similarity between traditional Chinese maps and schemes is dis-cussed by Henderson 1994; Smith 1996: 36-9; Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2003: 38-43.

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118 E.g., those discussed by Chavannes 1903: 237-41, and Needham and Wang Ling 1959: 534.


As I have attempted to show, using the example of the SHJ in general and the WZSJ in particular, such mapping can be realized by means of spatial textual arrangements, and not through making maps accompanying the text. It should also be noted that such schemes filled out with text would not be very much different from a certain type of later “global” maps that incorporate textual passages and have a shape similar to that of a regu-lar scheme.

Conclusions

In sum, in the case of the SHJ maps seem simply not to be needed, as the spatial lay-out of he text would have combined the properties of a tu (scheme-map) and elucida-tion (shuo) on this tu. In this respect it would be similar to a series of ancient Chinese texts the layout of which – original (e.g., the Chu Silk Manuscript and the Mausoleum Plan) or reconstructed (the “You guan (= Xuan gong)”) – emulates a spatial model.119

One can further suggest that, at least in some cases when the “loss” of ancient “global” maps is reported, no maps accompanying texts were lost or ever existed. The loss concerned the spatial layouts of the texts and practices of using these texts. Since the idea of maps related to the SHJ appears surprisingly late it seems tempting to sug-gest that its map-like structure and properties were still recognized over a long period of time.

A spatial layout of the WZSJ (with the possibility of its extrapolation by “Outside the Seas”) can be referred to as a “textual cosmograph”, which provides a process-ori-ented scheme, or a scheme-prescription for determining the configuration of a spiritual landscape.

Similar conclusions are drawn by Hwang Ming-Chorng as the result of his explora-tion of the “Outside the Seas” and “The Great Wilderness” mentioned above. He ar-gues that these parts of the SHJ were originally structured as cosmographs.120 He be-lieves, however, that these cosmographs were comprised of spatially arranged pic-tures,121 which would make them strongly resemble the Chu Silk Manuscript.122

119 Cf. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann 2001c. 120 Cf. Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 494-509 and 537-677, respectively. He defines the “Outside the Seas” as a “cosmograph for ‘alien-nations’”, ibid, pp. 502-6, and “The Great Wilderness” as a cos-mograph which was a “core of shamanistic knowledge”, ibid, pp. 666-77. 121 Cf. Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 496-8.

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122 This resemblance, however, raises again the question of which writing media allowed the incorpo-ration of multiple illustrations into a text, and only silk seems to provide this possibility. If we accept the suggestion by Hwang Ming-Chorng that “Outside the Seas” and especially “The Great Wilder-ness” are much older layers of the SHJ than the WZSJ (Hwang Ming-Chorng 1996: 665), and that they circulated as separate texts before the SHJ on “bound rolls of bamboo slips” was compiled, they could have only circulated once they had been written down on silk. No evidence of this is found in extant ancient Chinese sources, in contrast to the references to the early versions of the SHJ of bound


Such tools in the form of textual layouts could have served (or be meant to serve) in certain “space-ordering” practices. Several possibilities and their interrelationship can be explored here, such as shamanistic rituals,123 spirit quests,124 official “world-mak-ing” practices “revived” with the foundation of the empire,125 and the origins of geo-mancy.126 Each of these possibilities requires a special investigation, which is far be-yond the scope of this paper.

Abbreviations

AM Asia Major BEFEO Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient BMFEA Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities EC Early China EO–EO Extrême-Orient – Extrême-Occident MS Monumenta Serica SBBY Sibu beiyao TP T'oung Pao ZZJC Zhuzi jicheng Note: Sources cited in SBBY and ZZJC editions are not included into the bibliography below.

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Glossary

Cheng 成, King (wang 王) of the Zhou dynasty (r. 1042/35-1006 BC) Chengzhou/Luoyi 成周/洛邑, capital of the Zhou dynasty

Chu ci 楚辭 “Songs of Chu” Chu bo shu 楚帛書 Chu Silk Manuscript chuan ze shan lin 川澤山林 “rivers, marshes, mountains, forests”

Ban Gu 班固 (AD 32-92) Bi Yuan 畢沅 (AD 1730-1797)

bie 別 “to divide”

Biao 表 “Indications” by Liu Xin

bu dao ye 步道也 “is a pedestrian route” Buzhou 不周 mountain important in Chinese mythology “Guo feng” 國風 “Winds/Aires of Principalities/Kingdoms”

Guo Pu 郭璞 (AD 276-324)

guo 國 “country, state, kingdom, principality” Guo yu 國語 “Speeches of Principalities/Kingdoms” Gong Gong 共工 mythical personage Guan zi 管子 “Philosopher Guan” guo ming 國㈴ “names of countries” Da huang 大荒 “The Great Wilderness” dao1 導 “pave [a route or path]” dao lu shuai jing1 道路率徑 “routes and roads, principle paths”

Dao bu1 rong che, gu yue bu dao. 道不容車，故曰步道也。 “A route that does not accept chariots; that is why [it is] called pedestrian route.”

Dao zang 道臧 “Daoist Treasury” di li ㆞理 “terrestrial organization” Di li zhi ㆞理志 “Treatise on Terrestrial Organization” di tu ㆞圖 “terrestrial scheme, map” Hai jing 海經 “Itineraries of Seas” Hai nei 海內 “Inside the Seas” Hai wai 海外 “Outside the Seas” Han shu 漢書 “History of the Han [Dynasty]” Han fei zi 韓非子 “Philosopher Hanfei”

Hao Yixing 郝懿行 (AD 1757-1825)

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he 合 “to assemble, unite” hua1 畫 “picture, to draw pictures” Hua yi tu 華夷圖 “Map of Chinese and barbarian [territories]” Huai nan zi 淮南子 “Philosophers of the Huainan” Huang di 黃帝 mythical emperor ji 紀 “written notes” ji1 記 “written notes” jing 經 literally: “warp”; secondary meanings:

“classic, canon, book”; “principal route” jing1 徑 “pedestrian route or path” Jiu ding ㈨鼎 “Nine Tripods” Jiu zhou ㈨周 “Nine Provinces” juan 卷 “silk scroll” jun 郡 “commandery” Kang Hui 康回 mythical personage; another name of Gong

Gong? “Kao gong ji” 考工記 “Records on Investigating Crafts” Lie zi 列子 “Philosopher Lie”

Liu Xin (Xiu) 劉歆(秀) (ca. 46 BC - AD 23)

“Luo gao” 洛誥 “Announcement in Luo” Kun lun 崑崙 mountain important in Chinese mythology lei 類 “category” li 籬 “to separate” Li ji 禮記 “Records on Rituals” Liu jing tu ㈥經圖 “Maps related to the Six Classics” long shen ren mian 龍身㆟面 “dragon’s body – human face” long shou nia oshen 龍首鳥身 “dragon’s head – bird’s body” Lun heng 論衡 “Making Statements and Balancing [them]” “Ming gui xia” 明鬼㆘ “Elucidating on Spirits or Clairvoyant Spirits,

Part III” Ming tang 明堂 “The Luminous Hall” “Ming tang wei” 明堂位 “Positions in the Luminous Hall” Mu Tianzi zhuan 穆㆝子傳 “Narrative of the Son of Heaven, Mu” niao shen long shou 鳥身龍首 “bird’s body – dragon’s head”

Pei Xiu 裴秀 (AD 223-271)

Pian 篇 “bound roll of bamboo slips” Qi lüe ㈦略 “Seven Outlines” ren mian ma shen ㆟面馬身 “human face – horse’s body” ren mian niao shen ㆟面鳥身 “human face – bird’s body”

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renmian niushen, sizu yibi, cao zhang yi xing, shi wei feishou zhi shen ㆟面牛身，㆕足㆒臂，操杖以行，是為飛獸之神 “human face – bovine’s body, four legs and one arm, rely on a stick for walking, are spirits of flying beasts”

ren mian she shen ㆟面蛇身 “human face – snake’s body” ren zi ㆟字 “human being character” shan chuan 山川 “mountains and rivers” Shan hai jing 山海經 “Itineraries of Mountains and Seas” Shanhaijing xinjiaozheng 山海經新校正 “New Collated and Corrected

[Edition] of the SHJ”

Shan hai jing Wu zang shan jing san shi si pian, gu zhe tu1 di zhi tu. 山海經㈤臧山經㆔㈩㆕篇，古者㈯㆞之圖。

“[…] the 34 [version] the WZSJ of the SHJ in antiquity [was] “graphic repre-sentation(s)” of lands and earth”

Shan jing 山經 “Itineraries of Mountains” Shang shu/Shujing 尚書/書經 “Book of Documents” “Shao gao” 召誥 “Announcement of Shao” shen1 神 “spirit” shen1 ling qi guai 神靈奇怪 “spirits and divinities, strange and

amazing [matters]” Shen Yue 沈約 (AD 441-513)

shi 豕 “swine2” shi shen ren mian 豕身㆟面 “swine2’s body – human face” shi1 式 “cosmograph” “Shi di” 釋㆞ “Elucidations on the Earth” Shi ji 史記 “Records of Historian” Shi jing 詩經 “Book of Songs” shi1 tu 式圖 “cosmograph design” shu 書 “book, text” shu1 殊 “to decapitate” shuo 說 “elucidation, to elucidate” Shuo wen 說文 “Elucidating on Writing” Shuihudi 睡虎㆞ “toponyms” Si fang ㆕方 “Four Cardinal Directions”, “Four

Quadrates” si 司 “to control”

Sima Qian 司馬遷 (145?-86 BC)

Song shu 宋書 “History of the Song [Dynasty]”

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“Tian wen” ㆝問 “Questions to Heaven” “Tian xiang xun” ㆝象訓 (“Treatise on Heavenly Symbols”) tu 圖 graphical representation: chart, scheme,

diagram, map, table, design, sketch, picture tu shi1 圖式 pictorial cosmograph tu hua zan 圖畫讚 “appraisals of graphic representations and

pictures”

tu zan 圖讚 “appraisals of graphic representations” tu1 di zhi tu ㈯㆞之圖 “graphic representation of lands and earth” “Wang zhi” 王制 “Royal Regulations” wei 維 “[four] nodes” wei1 緯 “weft” Wen xuan 文還 “Selection of Writings” wu 物 “beings and things” Wu fu ㈤服 “Five Zones” Wuxing dayi ㈤行大義 “Great Principle of the Five Elements” Wuzang shanjing ㈤臧山經 “Five Treasuries: The Itineraries of

Mountains” Wu Yue Chunqiu 吳越春秋 “Springs and Autumns of Wu and Yue

[Kingdoms]” Xiwangmu 西王母 (mythical personage) Xiang 象 “image, symbol”

Xie Zhuang 謝莊 (AD 421-466)

Xingfa 行法 “Methods of Forms”

Xu Kai 徐鍇 (AD 920-974)

Xuan 宣, Earl (gong 公) of Lu kingdom/principality (r. 608-591 BC)

Xuan gong tu 玄宮圖 “Plan of the Dark Palace”

Yang Shen 楊慎 (AD 1488-1559)

“You guan” 幼官

Yu dao1 shanchuan zhi tu 禹導山川之圖 “Map of Yu’s paving mountains and rivers”

“Yu gong” 禹貢 “Yu’s [System of] Tribute” Yugong jiuzhou qiangjie 禹貢㈨州彊界圖 “The Map of boundaries of the Nine

Provinces, according to the ‘Yu gong’”

GBA 2-3: 2003


Yu fu tu1, sui shan kan mu, dian gao shan da chuan 禹敷㈯，隨山刊㈭，奠高山大川。

“Yu tailored the lands, paved paths through the mountains [and] cut down the trees, established the high mountains [and] the great rivers”

Yu ji tu 禹跡圖 “Map of Yu’s footprints” yuan fang 遠方 “far-away lands” zang 臧 “treasury”

Zuo Si ㊧思 (ca. third century AD) Zhang Jun 張駿 (AD 301-346) Zhao Ye 趙曄 (mid 1st c. AD)

Zhao yu tu 兆域圖 “Mausoleum Plan” “Zheng yu” 鄭語 “Speeches of Zheng Principality/Kingdom” zhi 彘 “swine1” “Zhi fang shi” 職方氏 “Official in Charge of the Cardinal Direc-

tions” zhishen bazu shewei 彘身，㈧足蛇尾 “swine1’s body, eight legs and snake’s

tail” zhi shen zai yu 彘身，載玉 “swine1’s body, wear jade” Zhong ㆗ “Center” “Zhou ben ji” 周本記 “Basic Records of the Zhou [Dynasty]” zhou 州 “province” Zhou li 周禮 “Zhou Rituals” zhu 柱 “[eight] pillars” Zhan guo ce 戰國策 “Plans of the Warring States (Kingdoms)” Zhuan Xu 傳頊 mythical emperor Zuo zhuan ㊧傳 “Zuo Narrative”

GBA 2-3: 2003


Table 1: Titles of chapters (juan 卷) of the Shan hai jing N° of juan TITLE OF JUAN (CHAPTER)

Part I. “Itineraries of Mountains” Shan jing 山經 “Itineraries of Southern Mountains” Nan shan jing 南山經 1 “[First] Itinerary of Southern Mountains” Nan shan jing 南山經 2 “Second Itinerary of Southern [Mountains]” Nan ci er jing 南次㆓經

1

3 “Third Itinerary of Southern [Mountains]” Nan ci san jing 南次㆔經 “Itineraries of Western Mountains” Xi shan jing 1 “[First] Itinerary of Western Mountains” Xi shan jing 西山經 2 “Second Itinerary of Western Mountains” Xi ci er jing 西次㆓經 3 “Third Itinerary of Western Mountains” Xi ci san jing 西次㆔經

2

4 “Fourth Itinerary of Western Mountains” Xi ci si jing 西次㆕經 “Itineraries of Northern Mountains” Bei shan jing 北山經 1 “[First] Itinerary of Northern Mountains” Bei shan jing 北山經 2 “Second Itinerary of Northern [Mountains]” Bei ci er jing 北次㆓經

3

3 “Third Itinerary of North [Mountains]” Bei ci san jing 北次㆔經 “Itineraries of Eastern Mountains” Dong shan jing 東山經 1 “[First] Itinerary of Eastern Mountains” Dong shan jing 東山經 2 “Second Itinerary of Eastern [Mountains]” Dong ci er jing 東次㆓經 3 “Third Itinerary of Eastern [Mountains]” Dong ci san jing 東次㆔經

4

4 “Fourth Itinerary of Eastern [Mountains]” Dong ci si jing 東次㆕經 “Itineraries of Central Mountains” Zhong shan jing ㆗山經 1 “[First] Itinerary of Central Mountains” Zhong shan jing ㆗山經 2 “Second Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci er jing ㆗次㆓經 3 “Third Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci san jing ㆗次㆔經 4 “Fourth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci si jing ㆗次㆕經 5 “Fifth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci wu jing ㆗次㈤經 6 “Sixth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci liu jing ㆗次㈥經 7 “Seventh Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci qi jing ㆗次㈦經 8 “Eighth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci ba jing ㆗次㈧經 9 “Ninth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci jiu jing ㆗次㈨經 10 “Tenth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci shi jing ㆗次㈩經 11 “Eleventh Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci shi yi jing ㆗次㈩㆒經

5

12 “Twelfth Itinerary of Central [Mountains]” Zhong ci shi er jing ㆗次㈩㆓經 Part II. “Itineraries of Seas” Hai jing 海經

“Outside the Seas” Hai wai 海外 6 “Southern Itinerary of Outside the Seas” Hai wai nan jing 海外南經 7 “Western Itinerary of Outside the Seas” Hai wai xi jing 海外西經 8 “Northern Itinerary of Outside the Seas” Hai wai bei jing 海外西經 9 “Eastern Itinerary of Outside the Seas” Hai wai dong jing 海外東經 “Inside the Seas” Hai nei 海內 10 “Southern Itinerary of Inside the Seas” Hai nei nan jing 海內南經 11 ““Western Itinerary of Inside the Seas” Hai nei xi jing 海內西經 12 “Northern Itinerary of Inside the Seas” Hai nei bei jing 海內北經 13 “Eastern Itinerary of Inside the Seas” Hai nei dong jing 海內東經 “Great Wilderness” Da huang 大荒 14 “Eastern Itinerary of the Great Wilderness” Da huang dong jing 大荒東經 15 “Southern Itinerary of the Great Wilderness” Da huang nan jing 大荒南經 16 “Western Itinerary of the Great Wilderness” Da huang xi jing 大荒西經 17 “Northern Itinerary of the Great Wilderness” Da huang bei jing 大荒北經 “Inside the Seas” Hai nei 海內 – addition 18 “[Central] Itinerary of Inside the Seas” Hai nei jing 海內經

西山經

GBA 2-3: 2003


Table 2: Appearances of Local Spirits in the Shan jing appearance East South Center

south north North West

I. HUMAN BEING: both face/head and body are used in the description human face ren mian ㆟面14

1(E2, note: with deer's horns ge 觡)

1 (S3)

2 (S8; S10)

4 (C2; C4; C7, 2x)

3 (N1; N2;

N3)

3 (W2, 2x;

W3) human head ren shou ㆟首 1+?

1 (C11)

? (C7: 3-head

spirits with human face)

human body ren shen ㆟身 2

2

(E1; E3)

II. ANIMALS whose both head (shou 首) and body (shen 身) are used in the description dragon 7 long 龍

body 2 (S2; S3) 1 (C10) head 1 (E1) 1 (S1) 2(C9;C12)

bird 5 niao 鳥

body 1 (S1) 2(C8;C12) 1 (C2) head 1 (S2)

III. ANIMALS whose body and sometimes peripheral parts (horns, tails) are used snake 3 she 蛇

2 (N1; N2) body 1 (N3b) tail wei 尾

swine1 3 zhi 彘

(body)

1 (C11)

2 (N3b jade; N3c - 8 legs zu 足and snake's tail

swine2 1 shi 豕

(body) (C7)

horse 3 ma 馬

(body)

1 (C9)

1 (N3a)

1 (W2a)

sheep 2 yang 羊

1(E3) horns jia 角

1 (W3) - body

bovine 1 niu 牛

(body)

1 (W2b - has 4 legs, one arm bi 臂, walks with a stick, can fly)

beast 2 shou 獸

(body)

1 (E2)

1 (C4)

GBA 2-3: 2003


Table 3: Spirits of the Cardinal Directions in the “Outside the Seas” East South North West Gou mang

句芒

Zhu rong 柷融

Yu qiang 禺彊

Ru shou 辱收

Appearance human face ren mian ㆟面

+ + +

bird's body niao shen + +

beast's body shou shen 獸身

+

snakes in the ears (worn as earings)

bears like earings a pair of green/black/ blue snakes er liang qing she 珥兩青蛇

in the left ear has a snake zuo er you she ㊧耳㈲蛇

Vehicle stands on a pair of green/black/ blue snakes jian liang qing she 踐兩青蛇

+

rides on a chariot with a pair of dragons cheng liang long 乘兩龍

+ + +

GBA 2-3: 2003

身鳥


E W

N

S

Figure 1a: 3x3 square grid

S

E

N

W Figure 1b: Nest of concentric squares

S

E

N

Figure 1c: Quinary cross and its transformation into a 3x3 grid and a nest of concentric squares

W

GBA 2-3: 2003


Figure 2: “Global scheme” of the Shan hai jing as a nest of concentric squares

GBA 2-3: 2003


Figure 3: Survey structure of the Wu zang shan jing

Numbers of itineraries in the peripheral sections conforms to the following correspondance: South-North (vertical/lengthwise) axis – Heaven – odd numbers (3 routes per section); East-West (horizontal/crosswise) axis – Earth – even numbers (4 routes per section). For the corre-spondance of Heaven to odd numbers and Earth to even, see Xi ci zhuan 繫辭傳 part I, §10; for the axes, see S. Field [1992, p. 99-100]. If 3 and 4 routes here are quantitative characteris-tics of the peripheral sections, the number of itineraries in the Center (12), the product of these numbers, can be regarded as a symbolic sum of periphery.

In some cases, numbers of mountains actually listed in the current version of the text differ by one mountain from their totals given at the end of each list (corresponding to an itinerary) and each chapter, sometimes also from the revision of this data by Hao Yixing 郝懿行 in the Shan hai jing jianshu 山海經箋疏.

In (parentheses) are the given totals of mountains, in italic revised totals by Hao Yixing, if other than the actually listed numbers of mountains. For numbers of mountains in each itin-erary, see V. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann [1995, Table 1].

GBA 2-3: 2003


Figure 4: System of itineraries of the Wu zang shan jing and “Outside the Seas”

E2(12)

E1(11)

E3(13)

E4(14)

W1 (4)

W2 (5)

W3 (6)

W4 (7)

S1 (1)

S2 (2)

S3 (3)

N1 (8)N2 (9)N3 (10)

C1 (15)

C3 (17)

C2 (16)

C4 (18)

C5(19)C6(20)C7 (21)

C8 (22)

C9 (23)

C10 (24)

C11 (25)C12 (26)

(27) S

N

(30)

(29)

E

YellowRiverbasin

Yangzi Riverbasin

(28)

W

E

*Inside the quinary frame:

Itineraries of the Wu zang shan jing Outside the quinary frame:

Itineraries of the “Outside the Seas”

Number with a symbol of a cardinal direc-tion/the center: ordinal number of an itinerary within the corresponding section of “Mountains” (e.g., N2 – the 2nd itinerary of the “Northern Mountains” Number in parentheses: Order of the itinerary’s appearance in the text

General sequence of itineraries in the Wu zang shan jing

S

N W *

GBA 2-3: 2003


Figure 5: Local spirits of the Wu zang shan jing and the gods of the cardinal direc-tions of “Outside the Seas”

GBA 2-3: 2003


Figure 6: Cosmograph (shi 式)

GBA 2-3: 2003

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