''Shi Yi Ji'' () is a Chinese mythological / historical treatise compiled by the

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

scholar Wang Jia (died 390). The title of the work has been variously translated into English as ''Record of Heretofore Lost Works'', ''Researches into Lost Records'', ''Record of Gleanings'', or ''Forgotten Tales''. The verb ''shiyi'' (拾遺) is translated by modern dictionaries as "to appropriate lost property", or, when used in book titles, "to make up for omissions". Accordingly, the work is based on "apocryphal" versions of early (legendary) Chinese history, which must have been produced during the Eastern Han Dynasty. For example, ''Shi Yi Ji'''s version of the story of

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures promine ...

has a yellow dragon and a black turtle helping Yu to create the geographical features of China, and to name them – details not found in the ''

Classic of Mountains and Seas The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sin ...

''. (especially, notes 90 and 97)

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Sources

王嘉
on hudong.com {{Chinese mythology Chinese literature Chinese mythology 4th-century books