This is a translation of the text in volumes 1 to 5 of Shan Hai Jing (山海经). Shan Hai Jing is a historical text on geography that describes the animals and plants of the lands in and around today's China in ancient times. Some of these creatures and plants do not exist today as they are probably mythical or they are extinct. Nevertheless, this is an interesting piece of natural history text. Only 18 of the original 22 volumes exist today. The earliest known existence of the text was traced to the Jin dynasty (266 to 420 AD). This casual translation only covers the first 5 volumes which focus on the mountains.