chinese mythological geography refers to the related mythological concepts of geography and cosmology, in the context of the geographic area now known as "china", which was typically conceived of as the center of the universe. the "middle kingdom" thus served as a reference point for a geography sometimes real and sometimes mythological, including lands and seas surrounding the middle land, with mountain peaks and sky (heaven or heavens) above, with sacred grottoes and an underworld below, and even sometimes with some very abstract other worlds. chinese mythological geography is very important because it involves a lot of mythology, history, and social science concepts of current usage as well as during previous uncounted millennia.