Sang Qin is the author of an ancient Chinese geographical work, though available sources on his life are limited: his dates, native place, and official status are not clearly recorded. What can be confirmed is that one work, the Shui Jing (Classic of Waterways), is attributed to him. This text is a specialized geographical record of rivers and waterways, listing the sources, courses, and surrounding landforms of numerous water routes one by one. Written in concise prose and organized around the waterways themselves, the Shui Jing later became the basis for Li Daoyuan's commentary, the Shui Jing Zhu, a celebrated work of geography. Sang Qin's name has thus been passed down through this book. Given the scarcity of historical records, his career, teachers, and the circumstances in which the work was composed remain uncertain and should not be conjectured.
