Editing Merfolk (section)

===Jiaoren===
The ''[[jiaoren]]'' ({{linktext|蛟|人}} "[[jiaolong|flood dragon]] people" or {{linktext|鮫|人}} "shark people"){{Refn|[[Edward H. Schafer]] also refers to "shark" here being interchangeable with ''jiao'' dragon (which he suggests translating as "cockatrice").<ref name="schafer1952-p156"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The conception of them seems to have shifted from half-reptilian to half-fish in later periods.{{sfnp|Nakano|1983|p=143}}}} that appear in [[medieval]] writings are considered to be references to [[merfolk (disambiguation)|merfolk]].{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=87}}<ref name=wetherall/><ref>{{harvp|Nakano|1983|p=143}}; {{harvp|Matsuoka|1982|p=49}}</ref>

This mythical southern mermaid or [[merman]] is recorded in {{interlanguage link|Ren Fang|zh|任昉}}'s {{interlanguage link|Shuyi Ji (Ren Fang){{!}}''Shuyi ji''|zh|述異記 (任昉)}}<!--遹異記 --> "Records of Strange Things" (early 6th century CE).{{Refn|name=shuyi-ji|Ren Fang, ''Shuyi Ji'', second volume.:{{sfnp|Nakano|1983|p=140}} "南海中有鮫人室水居如魚不廢機織其眼泣則出珠晉木𤣥虚海賦云天琛水怪鮫人之室" (translation quoted below).}}<ref name=schafer1952-p160/>

<blockquote>In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the ''kău'' ({{lang-zh|t=鮫|p=jiao|w=chiao}}<ref>{{harvnb|Schafer|1967|pp=217–218}}</ref>) people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not given up weaving at the loom. Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring forth is pearls.<ref>{{harvnb|Schafer|1967|p=220}}</ref></blockquote>

Similar passages appear in other texts such as the ''[[Bowuzhi]]'' ({{lang|zh|博物志}}, "Treatise of Manifold " {{c.|290 CE}}) as "weep[ing] tears that became pearls".<ref name=bowuzhi2/>{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=91}}<ref name=chengyu-kao-tr-lockhart/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|A 15th-century compilation of quotations from Chinese literature, the {{interlanguage link|Youxue qionglin{{!}}''Chengyu kao''|zh|幼学琼林}} ({{lang-zh|t=成語考|link=no}}; "Idioms investigated") merely gives a partial quote from the ''Bowuzhi'' as "The mermaid wept tears that became pearls".<ref name="chengyu-kao-tr-lockhart"/>}}

These aquatic people supposedly spun a type of raw silk called ''jiaoxiao'' {{linktext|蛟|綃}} "mermaid silk" or ''jiaonujuan'' {{linktext|蛟|女|絹}} "mermaid woman's silk". [[Edward H. Schafer|Schafer]] equates this with [[sea silk]], the rare fabric woven from [[byssus]] filaments produced by [[Pinna (genus)|Pinna]] "pen shell" mollusks.<ref>{{harvnb|Schafer|1967|p=221}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Chinese writings claimed that the raw material for such "silk" came from ''shuiyang'' 水羊 "water sheep" or ''shuican'' {{lang|zh|{{linktext|水|蠶}}}} "water silkworm" aka ''bingcan'' {{lang|zh|{{linktext|冰}}蠶}} "ice silkworm".<ref name="schafer1963"/> Cf. [[sea silk]].}}