Again on the pleasures of research.
I’m currently reading with much pleasure A Chinese Bestiary – Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas, a University of California book that reprints an ancient Chinese bestiary, edited by Richard E. Strassberg.

This is a compendium of strange creatures that was compiled between the 4th and the 1st centuri BCE, and was later re-edited, expanded and variously repackaged.
The English edition uses the woodblock prints from the 16th century version, and is highly entertaining. Continue reading →