YU THE GREAT SUBDUES THE FLOOD

(Da Yu Zhi Shui)

It is not clearly known how many years passed after Nuwa had patched up the sky with melted coloured stones (Cf. Nuwa Bu Tian) when trouble broke out again. Gonggong, God of Water and Thunder, defeated in a power struggle against Zhuanxu, knocked himself against the Buzhou mountain in a burst of anger. The pillars on that Mountain which supported the vault of heaven broke again. As a result, heaven tilted to the northwest and the sun, the moon and the stars were set in motion; the earth sank in the southwest, causing a great flood. Once more, great misery befell the people.

A superman by the name of Gun, in commiseration with the sufferings of the people, tried to contain the flood. He stole God's "inexhaustible earth" with which to block the water and dam it up. Not only did he fail, but for his offence, he was executed by God's order. After his death, Yu, our hero, was born out of his abdomen.

When Yu grew up, he carried on his father's unfulfilled task, fighting against the Great Flood in the face of untold difficulties. For thirteen arduous years he traveled everywhere, devoting himself so conscientiously to his work that "wind was his hair - comb and rainfall his bath" and "three times he passed the door of his house without going in."

Drawing a lesson from his father's failure, he used methods of channeling and dredging and finally succeeded in subduing the Great Flood. He did so much for the people that the reigning Emperor Shun asked him to take over the throne. (Incidentally, his son Qi became the second emperor of the first hereditary dynasty, the Xia, by which name China is still occasionally referred to by writers in the classical style.)

Yu the Great is the personification of wisdom, perseverance and selfless devotion and, as such, he makes a popular theme for artistic creations.