Editing Mermaid (section)

== Chinese folklore ==
{{Further|Merfolk#China}}<!--Please add content to [[merfolk]] if it is not gender-specific female -->
A [[merfolk]] race called the {{interlanguage link|Di people (merfolk)|zh|氐人族|lt=Di people|preserve=1}} are described as populating its own nation in the ''[[Shanhaijing]]'' (''Classic of Mountains and Seas'') compilation of Chinese geography and mythology, dating from the fourth century BC.<ref name="shanhaijing-strassberg-diren-dipeople"/>{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=89}} The ancient work also included several types of human-headed fish, such as the {{interlanguage link|chiru (fish)|zh|赤鱬|lt=''chiru''|preserve=1}} or "red ru fish";<ref name="shanhaijing-strassberg-chiru-redrufish"/>{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=89}} as well as creature with some humanlike qualities like the ''renyu'' ({{lang|zh|人魚}}) or "human-fish".<ref name="shanhaijing-strassberg-renyu-humanfish"/>{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=89}}

Note that these are not of a specific gender, so they are not really conducive to being called "mermaids", though some English (European) writers might use "mermaid" as shorthand.

There is also an account of the {{interlanguage link|hairenyu|ja|海人魚|lt=''hairenyu''}}({{lang|zh|海人魚}}; literally "sea human fish"), given in the ''[[Taiping Guangji|Taiping guangji]]'' compilation, sourced from the work entitled ''Qiawenji'' ({{lang|zh|洽聞記}}). The female of its kind had a head like beautiful woman's, with hair like a horse's tail, and white skin like jade without scales, covered with multicolored [[downy hair]] (or [[vellus hair|peach fuzz]]), and legless. The male and female had sexual organs like humans, so that [[widow]]s and {{linktext|widowers}} would keep them in their ponds, and the creatures could perform [[sexual intercourse]] normally as a human would.<ref name="taiping_guangji464"/>{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=91}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The anecdote is set in ''Donghai'' or "Eastern Sea" which designates "[[East China Sea]]" on a modern atlas (and this is given in Magnani's translation), but is "Eastern Sea" given by Groot translating this passage.<ref name="groot"/> Historically, the name could apply to the [[Sea of Japan]].<ref name="schottenhammer"/>}}

An anecdote considered relevant{{sfnp|Matsuoka|1982|p=56}} concerns a ''renyu'' ("human fish") allegedly seen by the ship carrying Zha Dao ({{lang|zh|査道}}), and emissary to Korea. She had an unkempt hairdo and scarlet mane extending to the back of her elbows. Zha ordered the crew to bring her aboard with poles, but she escaped. Zha explained that she was a ''renyu'', adept at copulating with humans, and was a type of human dwelling in the sea. The anecdote in the lost ''Cuyiji'' ("Records of Bygone Extraordinay Things") from the [[Northern Song period]],<ref name="zheng&kirk&buell&unschuld-Cuyiji"/>{{sfnp|Matsuoka|1982|p=56}}<ref name="yoshioka-cit-hino"/> survives in quotes, e.g., from ''[[leishu]]'' compilation ''Gujin tushu jicheng'' ({{lang|zh|古今圖書集成}} "Comprehensive Compendium of Illustrations and Books, Ancient and Modern").<ref name="gujin_tushu_jicheng144"/>