Sea By Examination

This dissertation chooses Hai Ching in Shan Hai Ching as the research targets. Based on the related inherent materials in Shan Hai Ching, I give detailed exposition and analysis on Hai Ching, and make corresponding academic appraisal on them.This dissertation consists of three parts altogether. The first part is Introduction. In this part ,I refer to the historical background of Liu Xin revised Shan Hai Ching during Han dynasty, and review the achievement of preceding and contemporary scholars having made on Shan Hai Ching, so that I can prove its research value. In the second part, I analysis the narrative structure and geography structure of Shan Hai Ching, this order in keeping with the mythological pattern of ranks, and then I reach particular the antiquated pictures structure of Shan Hai Ching. The third part is the focal point of this dissertation. In this part, I first refer to Levi-Strauss basic method about the structural method of myth analysis, as it provides a means to account for widespread variations on a basic myth structure, and it enables us to perceive some basic logical processes which are at the root of mythical thought. After laying out the method, I talk about the system to make it useful to the structural study of Hai Ching myths. To prove my point, I go into a analysis of description the myths in Hai Wai Ching, based on theories and methodologies of philology , beaux-arts and anthropology; and use the same methods as analysis of Da Huang Ching myths. I also analyze the abnormity myths with a similar structure. In sum, this dissertation thinks that class antagonism and conditions between two grades give birth to myths. Then I generalize four topics of Hai Ching myths such as War, System, Escape and Deiform Goods.The original function of Shan Hai Ching suited the needs of politics reasons which means the classifying and coding of all the natural things, including hills, rivers and animals, according to the spatial model of centripetal squares. Hai Ching myths provide a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction. Such a contradiction might consist of believing in two precisely opposite things, such as live and die, or monsters and human being. The important thing is that every culture has these contradictions, because every culture organizes knowledge into binary opposite pairs of things, and that these contradictions have to be reconciled logically. The logic of Shan Hai Ching myths is rather that the two modes of understanding and interpreting the world share the same basic structure (that of logic) applied to different things. To great extent, the logic of Hai Ching myths have great impact on the politics of Kings who want to control the world, on the other hand, they have great impact on the thoughts of Five Elements and Negative and Positive.