Shan Hai Jing

The Shan Hai Jing is often described as an atlas of the mythic geography of early China. The text likely took shape between the late Warring States period and the early Han dynasty (roughly the 4th to 1st century BCE). Its authors are unknown. Later tradition associated the work with legendary figures such as Da Yu or Bo Yi, though these attributions belong more to cultural memory than to verifiable history.

Rather than a continuous narrative, the book is organized as a series of geographical records. Mountains, rivers, distant lands, plants, minerals, strange animals, and supernatural beings appear side by side, combining empirical observation with cosmological imagination. The result is a fragmented but vivid picture of how early China conceived the structure of the world and the landscapes that lay beyond the familiar centers of civilization.

Where the Phoenix Once Appeared

One section of the book, the Nan Ci San Jing (南次三经) — the “Third Sequence of the Southern Mountains” — describes a chain of fourteen mountains stretching along the southern edge of the known world.

Archaeological maps excavated in Changsha (长沙) suggest that before the Han period Chinese maps were often drawn with south oriented at the top. Read in that way, the sequence of mountains described in this section unfolds from west toward the eastern sea.

The journey begins with Tianyu Shan (天虞之山), a mountain portrayed as steep, water-rich, and difficult to traverse. Some modern interpreters associate this description with the rugged ranges of the Hengduan Shanmai (横断山脉) in Yunnan (云南), where deep valleys and intersecting rivers historically made travel extremely difficult.

Further east appears Daoguo Shan (祷过之山), where the text speaks of gold and jade hidden in the mountains and elephants roaming the forests below. These details have often been linked to the humid borderlands near Nanning (南宁) and the Shiwandashan (十万大山) range along the southern frontier.

Five hundred li farther east stands Danxue Shan (丹穴之山) — the “Cinnabar Cave Mountain.” Here the phoenix first enters the narrative. The bird is described as bearing on its body the marks of virtue, righteousness, propriety, benevolence, and trust. It feeds naturally, sings naturally, and its appearance is said to signal a time when the world is at peace.

From there the mountains continue eastward through landscapes of dense forest, mineral deposits, strange birds, and rivers flowing south toward the sea. Interpreters have tentatively aligned parts of this sequence with regions that today correspond to the hills of Guangxi and western Guangdong.

The route passes near the northern edge of the Leizhou Bandao (雷州半岛) before moving through the limestone regions around Yangjiang (阳江) and Yunfu (云浮). It then approaches the basin of the Zhujiang (珠江) — the Pearl River — and continues eastward toward the mountains around Heyuan (河源) and the ranges between Jiexi (揭西) and Meizhou (梅州).

At the eastern end of the sequence stands Nanyu Shan (南禺之山), literally “the southern corner.” The mountain is described as rich in gold and jade, abundant in water, and containing a curious cave where water emerges during summer but closes again in winter. From this mountain a river flows southeast into the sea. In this final landscape, the phoenix appears once more.

Some interpreters have suggested that this final mountain may correspond to the range now known as Fenghuang Shan (凤凰山) in eastern Guangdong. Rivers such as the Han Jiang (韩江) and the Huanggang He (黄冈河) indeed rise in these mountains and flow southeast toward the coast — a direction explicitly mentioned in the ancient passage.

Nearby, the granite formations of Raoping Qinglan Dizhi Gongyuan (饶平青岚地质公园) create a striking terrain of weathered stone forests, valleys, and rare granite caverns. Among these formations are caves where water appears seasonally, emerging during warmer months and retreating again in winter — a detail that resonates with the curious cave described in the text.

The sequence concludes by stating that the fourteen mountains stretch across 6,530 li, tracing a long arc from the southwest toward the humid hills above the eastern sea.

A Distant Echo in the LandscapeAnd at the far end of that journey, the phoenix appears again.It is impossible to state with certainty that the mountain described in the Shan Hai Jing corresponds to the range now known as Fenghuang Shan (凤凰山) in eastern Guangdong. Yet the coincidence is difficult not to notice. The ancient text concludes its southern sequence with a mountain where the phoenix appears, and several features of the description resonate with the landscape surrounding Fenghuang Shan.

A Distant Echo in the Landscape

It is impossible to state with certainty that the mountain described in the Shan Hai Jing corresponds to the range now known as Fenghuang Shan (凤凰山) in eastern Guangdong. Yet the coincidence is difficult not to notice. The ancient text concludes its southern sequence with a mountain where the phoenix appears, and several features of the description resonate with the landscape surrounding Fenghuang Shan. A few centuries later, this very region came to bear the name “Phoenix Mountain.”

Whether a direct historical connection exists is difficult to prove. Still, it does not seem far-fetched to imagine that the memory of that old passage may have lingered in the cultural landscape, quietly shaping the name that the mountains carry today.