Geography
Geography articles and guides
The Most Dangerous Lands in the Shanhai Jing
Seas of fire, mountains of ice, and lands where the sun never sets — the extreme environments at the edges of the ancient Chinese world.
The Four Seas and the Shape of the Ancient Chinese World
North, South, East, West — how the Shanhai Jing mapped the world as four wilderness regions surrounding a civilized center.
Kunlun Mountain: Where Heaven Meets Earth in Chinese Mythology
The mythical Kunlun is not just a mountain — it is the axis of the Chinese cosmos, home of the Queen Mother of the West, and the source of immortality itself.
Sacred Rivers in Chinese Mythology: The Yellow River and the Yangtze
The rivers that shaped Chinese civilization also shaped its mythology — dragons, floods, and river gods.
The Geography of the Shanhaijing: Mapping a World That Does Not Exist
The Shanhaijing describes mountains, rivers, and seas with precise distances and directions. Scholars have spent centuries trying to match these descriptions to real geography. They have mostly failed.