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The Hainei shizhou ji 海內十洲記 "Ten islands in the inner seas", short Shizhouji 十洲記, is a collection of phantastic stories traditionally attributed to the Former Han period 前漢 (206 BC- 8 AD) Daoist master Dongfang Shuo 東方朔. The book is also known under the titles Shizhou sandao ji 十洲三島記 "The ten islands and three cliffs" or Shizhou xianji 十洲仙記 "The immortals from the ten islands". The short book was originally classified as a geographic book, but later put into the Daoists category because of the many stories of Daoist immortals it contains. Later on, it became part of the biographic category (jizhuan 記傳), and finally of the novella category (xiaoshuo 小説). From other types of literature it can be known that the book was already in circulation at the beginning of the Later Han period 後漢 (25-220) . The stories center around the mystic travel of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BC) to the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu 西王母), and the many fairies and immortals he heard of. The ten islands are places where immortals crowd together and live a life of joy and insouciance. It is also described where the islands theoretically are located, and what plants and animals are to be found. Such passages are similar to the famous Shanhaijing 山海經, which has indeed a more geographical character, as it also speaks of really existing places. Very important in the Shizhouji is the herb of immortality, growing on the island of Zuzhou 祖洲.
The Shizhouji is included in the Daoist encylopedia Yunji qiqian 雲笈七籤, and separately in the Daoist Canon Daozang 道藏, as well as in the collectanea Gushi wenfang xiaoshuo 顧氏文房小說, Gujin yishi 古今逸史, and the Siku quanshu 四庫全書.
Source: Liu Zhaoyun 劉兆雲 (1991). "Hainei shizhou ji 海內十洲記", in: Zhongguo wenxue da cidian 中國文學大辭典, vol. 2, pp. 70-71. Ed. Ma Liangchun 馬良春, Li Futian 李福田. Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe.
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