1. Ku-ch'eng in Pei-ch'ü District is located in the northern part of modern Chi District, Shan-hsi.

2. Windy Mountain (Feng-shan) is also located in modern Chi District, Shan-hsi.

3. See Yüan K'o, ed., Shan-hai ching , p. 90.

4. See Huai-nan-tzu 8:5b. The extant edition of Huai-nan-tzu differs somewhat from this quote.

5. See Ku Shih, ed., Mu T'ien-tzu chuan , p. 249.

6. Shen Tao (350-275 B.C.), also known as Shen-tzu, was a legalist philosopher. See Shen-tzu: I-wen 2a ( SPPY ed.).

7. Translated from Li Tao-yüan, Shui-ching-chu 4:1a-2a ( SPPY ed.).

1. This passage about Divine Giant (Chü-ling) does not appear in the extant editions of Dialogues from the Feudal States ( Kuo-yü ), a collection of speeches from 990-453 B.C. traditionally, but erroneously, attributed to Tso Ch'iuming (ca. 6th-5th century B.C.). It does appear in a slightly different form in Kuo Yüan-sheng, Record of a Distant Journey ( Shu-cheng chi ), a Chin dynasty work. See Ni, Yu-chi 1:32.

2. The Opening Up of Lotus Crag with Illustrations ( Hua-yen k'ai-shan t'u ) was the name of an apocryphal text from the Eastern Han dynasty, now lost. It apparently combined a mythological and geographical description of the mountain with a guide to divination.

3. The writer mistakenly confuses two allusions. One, from Chang Heng (78-139), "Rhapsody on the Western Capital" ( Hsi-ching fu; Wen-hsüan 2:2a [ SPPY ed.]), reads: "Divine Giant, with his mammoth power, raised high his hands and great distances tread." The other, from Tso Szu (ca. 253-ca. 307), "Rhapsody on the Capital of Wu" ( Wu-tu fu; Wen-hsüan 5:4a) reads: "Giant Tortoise, with his mammoth power, bore as a crown the sacred mount." The latter is a mythical animal who was ordered by the Emperor of Heaven to support the five sacred mountains on his back.

4. This probably refers to Divine Giant's Hand (Chü-ling shou-chang-yin), located on the Eastern Peak of Lotus Mountain. See figure 13.

5. The Temple of the Sacred Mount of the West (Hsi-yüeh-miao) was established during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han.

6. Celestial Well (T'ien-ching) is a cave that leads to the summit.

7. The Temple on the Summit (Shang-kung) was dedicated to the God of the Sacred Mount of the West.

8. Translated from Li, Shui-ching-chu 4:9a-11a.

1. Broad Stream Gorge (Kuang-hsi-hsia) is another name for Ch'ü-t'ang Gorge.

2. Ch'ang Ch'ü (fl. latter 3d century) served as an official in the kingdom of Shu and wrote A Gazetteer of Lands South of Lotus Mountain ( Hua-yang-kuo chih ), one of the earliest examples of a geographical record. Here, Li expands on a statement in Hua-yang-kuo chih 1:9a ( SPPY ed.) referring to the area known as the White Emperor's Citadel (Pai-ti-ch'eng).

3. A reference to a line in Tso Szu's "Rhapsody on the Capital of Shu" ( Shutu fu; Wen-hsüan 4:11a). The original text speaks of a marsh-dwelling dragon who sends rain at the sound of drums.

4. The Min River (Min-chiang) originates in modern Sung-p'an, Szu-ch'uan.

5. A line from "Rhapsody on the Long River" ( Chiang fu ) by Kuo P'u (276-324), courtesy name Ching-ch'un. See Wen-hsuan 12:7a. "Hsia Emperor" refers to Yü, founder of the Hsia dynasty and traditionally credited with bringing floods and rivers under control. Translated from Li, Shui-ching-chu 33:19b-20a.

6. Tu Yü proclaimed himself "Emperor Wang" and became king of Shu at the end of the Chou dynasty. His semimythical prime minister, Ao-ling, is credited with opening up the Three Gorges as a passage for the Long River. Later, Tu Yü yielded the throne to Ao-ling and retired to a mountain where he died and was said to have metamorphosed into a bird.

7. Kuo Chung-ch'an lived during the Chin dynasty and was the author of a geographical work, A Record of Ching Region ( Ching-chou chi ). "Treatise on Geography" ( Ti-li chih ) refers to the one in the History of the Former Han Dynasty . See Han shu 8a:1566-1567, which records Wu District in Nan Commandery. It is Ying Shao's (fl. late 2d century) commentary which states that Shaman Mountain lies in the southwest of the district.

8. Mount Min (Min-shan) stands about 15,000 feet above sea level in northern Szu-chuan, forming the border between that region and modern Kan-su province. Eyebrows Mountain (O-mei-shan), at 10, 165 feet, is located in the southwest of modern O-mei District, Szu-ch'uan; Transverse Mountain (Heng-shan), the Sacred Mount of the South, stands 4,230 feet high and is in modern Nan-yüeh District, Hu-nan; Nine Similar Peaks (Chiu-i-shan), where the sage-king Shun reputedly died, is located in the south of modern Ningyüan District, Hu-nan.

9. See Yuan K'o ed., Shan-hai ching , p. 277. Ch'i was a son of the Hsia emperor Yü. Meng T'u was originally sent to Pa (modern eastern Szu-ch'uanwestern Hu-pei) to resolve legal disputes. Cinnabar Mountain (Tan-shan) is located in the west of modern Pa-tung, Hu-pei.

10. See the commentary of Kuo P'u (Ching-ch'un) to this passage in the Shanhai ching , the extant edition of which is slightly different from this quotation. The city of Tan-yang was located in the east of present-day Tzu-kuei District, Hu-pei.

11. Sung Yü (ca. 290-ca. 223 B.C.), was a poet in the state of Ch'u. He was traditionally credited with the ''Rhapsody on the Kao-t'ang Belvedere" ( Kaot'ang fu ) in which he describes King Huai of Ch'u's (r. 328-299 B.C.) encounter in a dream with the divine maiden from Shaman Mountain while at the Kaot'ang Belvedere. Modern scholars have raised doubts about Sung Yü's authorship. The mention of the plants and divine fungi at Shaman Mountain here is not found in his extant works and may derive from later mythology.

12. See "Kao-t'ang fu" ( Wen-hsüan 19:1b-2a), which differs slightly from this quotation.

13. The White Emperor's Citadel (Pai-ti-ch'eng) marks the beginning of the Three Gorges and is located along Ch'ü-t'ang Gorge in the eastern part of modern Feng-chieh, Szu-ch'uan. It was built facing the river on a mountaintop by Kung-sun Shu (d. A.D. 36), who proclaimed himself "White Emperor" in A.D. 25 in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a kingdom in Szu-ch'uan. During the Three Kingdoms period, it became a stronghold of the forces of Shu-Han under Liu Pei (161-223).

14. Modern Chiang-ling, Hu-pei.

15. "Eastern Pa" (Pa-tung) here refers to the modern districts of Yün-yang, Feng-chieh, and Wu-shan in Szu-ch'uan.

16. Translated from Li, Shui-ching-chu 34:2a-3a.

17. Yüan Shan-sung was a writer, music expert, and official of the Eastern Chin dynasty who wrote a history of the Eastern Han dynasty. The reference here is from another work of his, A Record of I-tu ( I-tu chi ).

18. This quote is actually from A Record of Mountains and Rivers in I-tu ( I-tu shan-ch'uan chi ) by a Mr. Li. See Ni, Yu-chi 1:43.

19. Translated from Li, Shui-ching-chu 34:5b-6b.