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Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas

A Chinese Classic
4.49 goodreads logo

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( 146 ratings, 21 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas is a contemporary translation of an ancient Chinese text combining geography, mythology, and medicinal lore. It catalogues fantastic beasts, spirits, and deities from the mythical regions that became China, providing vivid descriptions and cultural insights. Featuring over 180 sinuous two-colour illustrations, the book invites readers into a world of dragons, phoenixes, hybrid creatures, and mystical beings imbued with symbolic and healing powers.
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Format: Hardback
$5999
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for fans of mythology, fantasy, cultural history, and illustrated bestiaries, as well as readers interested in ancient Chinese lore and art.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The gorgeously illustrated contemporary edition of an ancient Chinese text—for fans of fantastic beasts everywhere

Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas is a new translation for contemporary readers of a classic Chinese text that is at once the geography of an ancient world, a bestiary of mythical creatures, and a book of cultural and medicinal lore. Illustrated throughout with more than 180 two-colour drawings that are so sinuous they move on the page, it is a work for lovers of fantasy and mythology, ancient knowledge, fabulous beasts, and inspired art.

The beings catalogued within these pages come from the regions of the known world, from the mountains and seas, the Great Wastelands, and the Lands Within the Seas that became China. They include spirits and deities and all sorts of strange creatures—dragons and phoenixes, hybrid beasts, some with human features, some hideous or with a call like wood splitting, or that portend drought or flood or bounty; others whose flesh cures disease or fends off nightmares, or whose pelt guarantees many progeny.

Drawn from The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Fantastic Creatures is the work of two members of China's millennial generation: a young scholar and writer once known as the youngest "Genius of Chinese Cultural Studies" and an inspired illustrator trained in China and the United States. Together, they managed to communicate with the soul of a 4,000-year-old beast and have brought forth its strange beauty. Their work has been rendered into English by the foremost translator of modern Chinese literature in the West.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Booklist praises it as "an essential read for anyone interested in fantastical creatures," comparing it favourably with Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings. Francis Ford Coppola calls it "a special treat" opening a window to ancient Asian wisdom through magical comic book-style illustrations. Fiona Donovan hails the work as "a masterpiece and a feat," highlighting its beauty, contemporary vision, and environmental themes.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781950691388

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 30 September 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: Arcade Publishing

Illustration: 180 2-color illustrations

Contributors:

  • Translated by Howard Goldblatt
  • Illustrated by Siyu Chen
  • Translated by Howard Goldblatt

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 178.0mm

Height: 254.0mm

Weight: 1111g

Pages: 376

About the Author

Jiankun Sun,once known as the youngest "Genius of Chinese Cultural Studies," is now a graduate student of the Institute of History, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. He excels in research on The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing) and was a first-prize winner of Fudan University's Boya Cup national essay competition for his essay onThe Classic of Mountains and Seas.He lives in Shanghai.

Siyu Chen, whose inspired illustrations provided the spark for this new edition,is a freelance illustrator. She graduated from Tsinghua University in Beijing with bachelor's and master's degrees, then studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she received her second master's degree. Her published books include, besidesFantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing),Songs of the South (Chu Ci). Her illustration work has been selected for the American Illustration Archive. She lives in Germany with her husband and two children.

Howard Goldblattis a literary translatorof numerous works of contemporary Chinese fiction from mainland China and Taiwan, including Nobel Prizewinner Mo Yan, five of whose works are published by Arcade (The Garlic Ballads;The Republic of Wine;Big Breasts and Wide Hips; Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out; Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh). He has also translated works byLiu Zhenyun (I Did Not Kill My Husband; The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon; Remembering 1942, which are published by Arcade), Huang Chunming (The Taste of Apples), and Chen Ruoxi (The Execution of Mayor Yin). He taught modern Chinese literature and culture for more than a quarter of a century. He lives in Lafayette, Colorado.

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