How to understand China's fairy tales and system systematically?

Myth came into being when people in ancient times began to think and explore nature and combined with their own imagination, which contained all kinds of strange animals and heroes. All over the world, there are completely different myths that are constantly evolving and inheriting. For thousands of years, myths have been circulated among the people in China, constantly evolving from person to person and from ear to ear, with many subtle differences. Therefore, it is very difficult to trace the source of elegance. For most readers, if they just want a plot outline out of interest, have a systematic understanding of China's fairy tales and systems, and have no strict academic requirements, they can do this:

1. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is more than just a myth dictionary. This is the basis of China's traditional myth. Shan Hai Jing 18 has preserved the most ancient mythological materials, and because it was written earlier, the cited materials are extremely old, which is also the closest to the true face of the myth and the most primitive. Moreover, in many mythical images, prototypes can be found in them. The writing of modern online novels often quotes paragraphs from them. Moreover, as a geographical work, its cultural value is also very high. ?

Second, pre-Qin works such as Zhuangzi and Mozi? This kind of books often record some myth fragments, but there are different opinions and complicated versions, so it is not recommended for beginners to learn this kind of books.

3. Represented by Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Searching for Ji Shen, Tian Pingguang Ji, tang legends's novels and Ming and Qing novels? This kind of cultural books, because of the imagination and creation of literati, have amazing imagination on the whole, and the mythical characters are more plump and diverse. Its literariness is better than traditional myth, flatter and closer to the real world. Among them, The Journey to the West and Romance of the Gods are prominent, and the flood and famine system compiled on the basis of these two kinds is deeply loved by readers.

4. Professional books such as Ancient Myth of China and Preliminary Exploration of Myth of China? Most of the above books are literature. These books are out of interest, professional and logical, and can basically be well-founded and clearly discussed. Suitable for beginners to learn.