CHAPTER 07 · 23 passages
Beyond the Western Seas
海外西經
Select a chapter to begin. Hover over or tap a Chinese character to see its pinyin pronunciation. Select an underlined name to explore its Taiji card. Keyboard: focus a passage, then use Left and Right Arrow to inspect characters. Escape closes pronunciation.
English
This is the region beyond the seas, from the southwestern corner to the northwestern corner.
English
The Miè Méng Niǎo [滅蒙] lies north of the country of Jié Xiōng [結匈]. It is blue-green, with a red tail.
English
English
On Dà Yuè Wilderness, Qǐ [啟], lord of Xià [夏], dances the Jiǔdài [九代]. He rides two dragons beneath a cloud canopy of three tiers. In his left hand he holds a feathered screen, in his right a ring, and he wears a semicircular jade pendant. This is north of Mount Dàyùn [大運]. Another account calls it the plain of Dàyí [大遺].
Translator’s note
Jiǔdài [九代] is the name of the dance or musical work in this passage. Ren is an ancient height unit.
English
The country of Sān Shēn [三身] lies north of Qǐ [啟], lord of Xià [夏]. Its people have one head and three bodies.
English
The country of Yī Bì [一臂] lies to the north. Its people have one arm, one eye, and one nostril. There is a Huáng Mǎ with tiger markings, one eye, and one forelimb.
Translator’s note
The source uses 手, “hand,” in describing the horse; “forelimb” preserves the stated limb without giving it an ordinary four-legged anatomy.
English
The country of Qígōng [奇肱] lies to the north. Its people have one arm and three eyes, with both yin and yang, and ride patterned horses. Beside them is a bird with two heads, red and yellow in colour.
Translator’s note
“With both yin and yang” follows 有陰有陽. The relation of this phrase to the eyes is not fully explained in the source.
English
Xíng Tiān [刑天] contended with the High God for divine power. The High God cut off his head and buried it on Mount Chángyáng [常羊]. Then Xíng Tiān [刑天] made his nipples his eyes and his navel his mouth, and danced wielding shield and battle-axe.
English
Nǚ Jì Nǚ Qī lie to the north, dwelling between two rivers. Nǚqī [女戚] holds a fish vessel, and Nǚjì [女祭] a sacrificial stand.
Translator’s note
觛 is a small vessel or cup; its association with fish is retained without reconstructing the ritual.
English
The Cì [䳐] and Dǎn [𪆻] birds are blue-green and yellow; the countries through which they pass perish. They lie north of Nǚjì [女祭]. The Cì Niǎo [䳐] has a human face and dwells upon a mountain. Another account calls it the Wéi [維] bird and speaks of the places where blue and Huáng Niǎo gather.
Translator’s note
The alternative reading is syntactically uncertain; it is preserved as a separate account rather than harmonised with the first.
English
The country of Zhàng Fū [丈夫] lies north of the Wéi [維] bird. Its people wear clothes and caps and carry swords at their belts.
English
The Corpse of Nǚ Chǒu lies north of Zhàng Fū [丈夫]. While she lived, the ten suns scorched her to death. She shields her face with her right hand. The ten suns are above, and Nǚ Chǒu [女丑] is upon a mountain.
English
The country of Wū Xián [巫咸] lies north of Nǚ Chǒu [女丑]. Its people hold a blue-green Shé in the right hand and a red Shé in the left. It is on Mt. Dēng Bǎo [登葆], by which the many shamans ascend and descend.
English
Bìng Fēng [并封] lies east of Wū Xián [巫咸], shaped like a pig, black, with a head at both front and rear.
English
The country of Nǚzǐ [女子] lies north of Wū Xián [巫咸]. Two women dwell there, surrounded by water. Another account says they dwell within a single gateway.
English
The country of Xuān Yuán [軒轅] lies at the boundary, north of the country of Nǚzǐ [女子]. Even its short-lived people reach eight hundred years. They have human faces and snake bodies, with their tails crossing above their heads.
English
Mt. Qióng [窮] lies to the north, north of the country of Xuān Yuán [軒轅]. People dare not shoot westward, for fear of Xuānyuán [軒轅] Hill. The hill is square, and four Shé coil around it.
English
On the plain of Zhūyāo [諸夭], the Luán Niǎo [鸞] sing of themselves and the Fèng Niǎo [鳳] dance of themselves. The people eat Huáng Luǎn and drink sweet dew; whatever they desire comes of itself. All kinds of beasts dwell together in herds. This is north of the four Shé. The people hold eggs in both hands and eat them, while two birds stand before them as guides.
English
The Lóng Yú [龍魚] dwells on the hills to the north, shaped like a wildcat. Another account says it resembles a prawn. Divine sages ride it through the nine regions. Another account places the Biēyú [鼈魚] north of Yāo [夭] Plain and says the fish resembles a carp.
Translator’s note
The source gives markedly different comparison animals in its alternatives; none has been silently preferred or removed.
English
The country of Báimín [白民] lies north of the Lóng Yú [龍魚]. Its people have white bodies and unbound hair. There is a Chéng Huáng [乘黃], shaped like a fox, with horns upon its back. Whoever rides it lives two thousand years.
English
The country of Sù Shèn [肅慎] lies north of Báimín [白民]. There is a tree called Xióng Cháng [雒棠]; when sages succeed one another as rulers, they take their clothing from here.
English
The country of Cháng Gǔ [長股] lies north of Xióng Cháng [雒棠]. Its people wear their hair unbound. Another account calls it Chángjiǎo [長腳].
English
In the west is Rù Shōu [蓐收], with a Shé at his left ear, riding two dragons.