FREE Returns

FREE delivery Tuesday, November 8. Order within 11 hrs 52 mins

In Stock.

[{"displayPrice":"$34.49","priceAmount":34.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"34","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"euS%2FaQb%2FG5tSbXwsnKLyVDBTMmaRs5C8%2BFg1UEQg3XuU%2BTZrcI7Fd4TY16azTmd01ZrRT8QN2IpLdXzE3s5bRgLiBOQC%2FEdlZ%2FevfMy4b01I5INoeMYYFuQ9LSNrSDD0RCl4rIr%2Bqbby3ljTlnsY9w%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$25.02","priceAmount":25.02,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"25","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"02","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"ugG0WxLxgAKqxrxVZ0%2BE0ikR4bVplBmM7hHdVCFHZBsUSoDGfcH7jnGY722rBVKP4GqTsWavTqSeTmlhA5yrH%2B%2BiW8rH4jWURfj0ZxO1jerX1wEFJUmMEa3oLcKjTUFbhUKRI%2BnJ6505h2TMVEllWrbOxFlO5It%2BMVHFRi36gnDSYKl5Zpdq%2Fbmn67rSNVc2","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$34.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Returnable until Jan 31, 2023

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$3.99 delivery November 14 - 16. Details

Or fastest delivery November 10 - 15. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Prime 1 Books

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Share

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$30.28
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Book Depository US

Added

Not added

$27.46
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: SuperBookDeals---

Added

Not added

$34.17
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Prime Deals, USA

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Shiyuan Chen

Chinese Bestiary Paperback – Illustrated, November 4, 2008

by Strassberg (Author)

35 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$50.47

—

$50.47

Paperback, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$34.49

$25.03

$25.02

Enhance your purchase

A Chinese Bestiary presents a fascinating pageant of mythical creatures from a unique and enduring cosmography written in ancient China. The Guideways through Mountains and Seas, compiled between the fourth and first centuries B.C.E., contains descriptions of hundreds of fantastic denizens of mountains, rivers, islands, and seas, along with minerals, flora, and medicine. The text also represents a wide range of beliefs held by the ancient Chinese. Richard Strassberg brings the Guideways to life for modern readers by weaving together translations from the work itself with information from other texts and recent archaeological finds to create a lavishly illustrated guide to the imaginative world of early China.

Unlike the bestiaries of the late medieval period in Europe, the Guideways was not interpreted allegorically; the strange creatures described in it were regarded as actual entities found throughout the landscape. The work was originally used as a sacred geography, as a guidebook for travelers, and as a book of omens. Today, it is regarded as the richest repository of ancient Chinese mythology and shamanistic wisdom. The Guideways may have been illustrated from the start, but the earliest surviving illustrations are woodblock engravings from a rare 1597 edition. Seventy-six of those plates are reproduced here for the first time, and they provide a fine example of the Chinese engraver's art during the late Ming dynasty.

This beautiful volume, compiled by a well-known specialist in the field, provides a fascinating window on the thoughts and beliefs of an ancient people, and will delight specialists and general readers alike.

Print length

338 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of California Press
Publication date

November 4, 2008
Dimensions

6 x 0.77 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0520298519
ISBN-13

978-0520298514
See all details

Frequently bought together

$34.49

Get it as soon as Tuesday, Nov 8

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Penguin Classics)

$19.00

Get it as soon as Tuesday, Nov 8

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas: A Chinese Classic

$22.84

Get it as soon as Tuesday, Nov 8

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Choose items to buy together.

Anonymous
78
Hardcover
32 offers from $21.60
Anonymous
56
Paperback
43 offers from $9.75
徐克
36
Paperback
27 offers from $11.99
Frederick H. Martens
243
Hardcover
44 offers from $11.30
Michael Dylan Foster
1,550
Paperback
34 offers from $13.39
Dehai Huang
26
Paperback
24 offers from $13.29

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . . [Strassberg's] work joins the ranks of Yuan Ke, Remi Mathieu and Riccardo Fracasso as being the best translation in its own language--here, English--as well as a must read for all those whose penchant is ancient Chinese studies."-- "T'uong Pao"

"Richard Strassberg brings the book to life for modern readers by weaving together translations from the work itself with information from other texts to illustrate the world of early China."-- "Asian Art"

"Strassberg deftly balances the line between translation and transliteration. . . . The combination of text and lavish illustrations does indeed provide both specialists and non-specialists a portal into the imaginative world of Shanhai jing with its wondrous and mythical creatures."-- "Asian Folklore Studies"

From the Inside Flap

"At last! Richard Strassberg’s stunning new work provides a lively introduction in words and pictures to one of China’s best loved and least understood classics, the Shanhai jing or Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. This classic of mythical geography and fantastic ethnography, full of wondrous stories and creatures, contains a treasury of information about the Chinese worldview and has inspired Chinese writers and artists for over two millennia. But until now, its strange vocabulary together with patchy transmission of both text and illustrations, have made it difficult to present to English-speaking audiences. Relying on a rare 1597 edition of the classic, Strassberg has faithfully captured its combination of entertaining whimsy and deep religious intent. His new book, the product of years of study by one of the few people truly qualified to analyze both text and the images, is sure to delight specialist and nonspecialist alike."—Suzanne Cahill, author of Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; Illustrated edition (November 4, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 338 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520298519
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520298514
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.77 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66 in Chinese Literary Criticism (Books)
- #2,798 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #3,831 in Arts & Photography Criticism

Customer Reviews:
35 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Shiyuan Chen

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		18%
3 star		5%
2 star		5%
1 star		4%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Alan

Arrived with a slightly bent front cover. Content itself is fine.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

The front cover was slightly bent, the contents itself is fine.

Helpful

D. Freed

Really, really tiny typeface, which makes this book almost unreadable

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

I have not yet delved into the content of this book, which appears to be well-written. My issue is what the size of the text and the overall layout of the book. The font is way, way too small to read easily or for any length of time. The book's margins are skewed; the text area could have easily been made larger, to accompany a slightly larger - and more readable - type.

Instead it seems whomever did the layout for this book never looked at a hard copy version, but instead just viewed it on their screen, and then sent it off to the printers. Bad move on the part of UC Press, and I have contacted them to let them know about it!

I want to return this, but I fear I'll be stuck with the return shipping fees, so ....

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cool Loon

Excellent reference

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

It's always good to get as close to the source material as possible. And that's what I think Strassberg has provided by the text and supplementary materials (wood blocks, maps) he provides to give dimension to this ancient work. Superb indexing allows tracking down references to specific creatures/personages without distorting the clearly cumulative origin of the chapters. Some may prefer a more narrative presentation but, having read other translations of the Shan Hai Jing, I believe this one allows students of the work to see for themselves the specific underlying mythology, presented from multiple points of view as it was written down over time.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

P. Herron

Invaluable for China scholars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

If you are researching ancient Chinese art, mythology or legends, this book is extremely useful. Well organized with many illustrations (black and white probably for cost reasons). I would have liked a more extensive index rather than the very basic index to the plates included in the book. Strassberg did an excellent job in making Guideways Through Mountains and Seas more accessible to China students and scholars not fluent in reading Chinese.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Beyond imagination.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

Imagine a fantastically exotic creature that lives at the utmost extremity of the world made into a medicinal soup. Would you take the cure?

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Richard Parks

A Good Source

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

A good source for anyone interested in the subject.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 26, 2012

Verified Purchase

Both content and packaging are excellent. A perfect complement to Borges "Book of Imaginary Beings" and a great spur to creativity if you happen to write fantasy.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Michael Mercede

One Star

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Terribly warped.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

rosa isabella furnari

completa analisi

Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on February 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

l'autore fa una completa disanima dello "shan hai jin" , che viene classificato , cosa inportante, in base agli argomenti e alle illustrazioni. Un lavoro fatto altrimenti risulterebbe noioso e di difficile recezione.La traduzione è chiara, comprensibile, ben ordinata

Translate review to English

See all reviews