From ridiculous to sublime...
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This is a fair translation of the esoteric (and frankly, utterly mad) text of the classic. It functions as a bestiary and mythic guide to ancient Chinese cosmology, and it is somewhat disjointed (the work, not the translation), somewhat bizarre, and quite often rather funny. As the translator notes (and an esteemed translator, too), the work was taken seriously by many for a very long time, into the 20th century, and to the modern, sceptical, critical eye, it is very hard to see why. The point needs to be oft-made; this classic contains some absurd stuff, lots of folk traditions and nonsense. This is the key to it, however; the pre-modern and indeed very ancient worldview of the Han Chinese is shown through it. The introduction is good and the glossary of mythic figures is a very useful addition too - these are what make the repetitive text valuable and fun.
Some provisos: Only buy this book if you are sure this is the text you want to read. Research -- you may end up disappointed otherwise. Please do not buy it to take it seriously -- if you are a modern western Daoist you may find your religious convictions challenged by the fact that many Daoists do indeed believe this to be true or valuable in some way. Do not expect a coherent work of fiction with a plot line; that is not what this is. It is also best, in my view, not to read the thing in long sittings. It is, as aforementioned, quite repetitive, lots of "if you put this herb in your belt/eat this bird with a human head, then your hair won't fall out/you will produce many grandchildren". These kind of things are fun but you will probably hate the thing if you read it for too long.
It's a lovely thing to read with a cup of tea for a little while and put back on the shelf for future sessions. It's that kind of book.
I hope I haven't made it sound dull and unworthy of literary attention. I'm simply trying to tell all the people out there who are not Sinologists or anthropologists that this is probably something you should think twice about buying. If you still want to buy it after finding out about it, then by all means, because it can be a blast and a chuckle to read.
Obviously if you are a Sinologist or student of Chinese, especially ancient China, then this should be required reading, and this is, as I said, a good translation.
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