This article is about Gun-Yu mythology. For the umbrella term of Chinese deluge mythology, see Flood Mythology of China.
The Great Flood of Gun-Yu, also known as the Gun-Yu myth,[1] was a major flood in ancient China that allegedly continued for at least two generations, which resulted in great population displacements among other disasters, such as storms and famine. People left their homes to live on the high hills and mountains, or nest on the trees.[2] According to mythological and historical sources, it is traditionally dated to the third millennium BCE, or about 2300–2200 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Yao.
However, archaeological evidence of an outburst flood at Jishi Gorge on the Yellow River, comparable to similar severe events in the world in the past 10,000 years, has been dated to about 1920 BCE (a few centuries later than the traditional beginning of the Xia dynasty which came after Emperors Shun and Yao), and is suggested to have been the basis for the myth.[3]
Treated either historically or mythologically, the story of the Great Flood and the heroic attempts of the various human characters to control it and to abate the disaster is a narrative fundamental to Chinese culture. Among other things, the Great Flood of China is key to understanding the history of the founding of both the Xia dynasty and the Zhou dynasty, it is also one of the main flood motifs in Chinese mythology, and it is a major source of allusion in Classical Chinese poetry.
Overview
Map showing the legendary flood and the Nine Provinces of ancient China.
The story of the Great Flood plays a dramatic role in Chinese mythology, and its various versions present a number of examples of the flood myth motif around the world. Flood narratives in Chinese mythology share certain common features, despite being somewhat lacking in internal consistency as well as incorporating various magical transformations and divine or semi-divine interventions like Nüwa.[4] For example, the flood usually results from natural causes rather than "universal punishment for human sin".[5] Another distinct motif of the myth of the Great Flood of China is an emphasis on the heroic and praiseworthy efforts to mitigate the disaster;[6] flooding is alleviated by constructing dikes and dams (such as the efforts of Gun), digging canals (as devised by Yu the Great), widening or deepening existing channels, and teaching these skills to others.[7]
Another key motif is the development of civilization and bettering the human situation despite the disaster of the deluge.[6] During the course of fighting, surviving, and eventually getting the inundation problems under control, much progress was also made in terms of land management, beast control, and agricultural techniques. These and other developments are integral to the narrative, and exemplify a wider approach to human health and societal well being than emergency management of the flood and its immediate effects. According to legend, a comprehensive approach to societal development resulted not only in wide-scale cooperation and large-scale efforts to control the flood but also led to the establishment of the first dynastic state of China, the Xia dynasty (c.2070–c.1600 BCE).
A study on the ~1920 BCE flood published in 2016 suggested that the concurrence of these major natural and sociopolitical events known through the geological, historiographical, and archaeological records may not simply be coincidence but rather an illustration of a profound and complicated cultural response to an extreme natural disaster that connected many groups living along the Yellow River.[3]
Narrative
Flood begins
Emperor Yao. Inscription reads: "The Emperor Yao, Fang Xun, was humane like Heaven itself, and wise like a divine being; to be near him was like approaching the sun, to look at him was like gazing into clouds".
It was during the reign of Emperor Yao that the Great Flood began, a flood so vast that no part of Yao's territory was spared, and both the Yellow River and the Yangtze valleys flooded.[9] The alleged nature of the flood is shown in the following quote:
Like endless boiling water, the flood is pouring forth destruction. Boundless and overwhelming, it overtops hills and mountains. Rising and ever rising, it threatens the very heavens. How the people must be groaning and suffering!
—Emperor Yao, as quoted in the Book of History, describing the flood[10]
According to both historical and mythological sources, the flooding continued relentlessly. Yao sought to find someone who could control the flood, and turned for advice to his special adviser, or advisers, the Four Mountains (四嶽 or 四岳, Sìyuè); who, after deliberation, gave Emperor Yao some advice which he did not especially welcome.
Upon the insistence of Four Mountains, and over Yao's initial hesitation, the person Yao finally consented to appoint in charge of controlling the flood was Gun, the Prince of Chong, who was a distant relative of Yao's through common descent from the Yellow Emperor.[9]
Gun's efforts
According to the main mythological tradition, Gun's plan of flood control was through the use of a miraculously continuously self-expanding soil, Xirang.[1] Gun chose to obtain the Xirang by stealing it from the Supreme Divinity, which he did; however, the Supreme Divinity became quite angered at this importunity.[1] Year in and year out, many times, and to great extents; Gun applied the magical Xirang earth in attempt to block and barricade the flood waters with dams, dikes, and embankments (which he built with the special powers of the magic soil). However, Gun was never able to abate the problems of the Great Flood. Whether his failure to abate the flood was due to divine wrath or to engineering defects remains an unanswered question – although one pointed out over two thousand years ago by Qu Yuan, in his "Heavenly Questions". [11]
A depiction of the system of the zhou, or "islands" (now reinterpreted as "provinces"), a system which Shun is credited with developing as a tool to allow political administration of a territory with ongoing flooding making normal communications impossible, although the number and locations of zhou have varied over time
Even after nine years of the efforts of Gun, the flood continued to rage on, leading to the increase of all sorts of social disorders. The administration of the empire was becoming increasingly difficult; so, accordingly, at this point, Yao offered to resign the throne in favor of his special adviser(s), Four Mountains: however, Four Mountains declined, and instead recommended Shun – another distant relative to Yao through the Yellow Emperor; but one who was living in obscurity, despite his royal lineage.[12]
Yao proceeded to put Shun through a series of tests, beginning with marrying his two daughters to Shun and ending by sending him down from the mountains to the plains below where Shun had to face fierce winds, thunder, and rain.[13] After passing all of Yao's tests, not the least of which being establishing and continuing a state of marital harmony together with Yao's two daughters, Shun took on administrative responsibilities as co-emperor.[14] Among these responsibilities, Shun had to deal with the Great Flood and its associated disruptions, especially in light of the fact that Yao's reluctant decision to appoint Gun to handle the problem had failed to fix the situation, despite having been working on it for the previous nine years. Shun took steps over the next four years to reorganize the empire, in such a way as to solve immediate problems and to put the imperial authority in a better position to deal with the flood and its effects.
Although Shun's organization (or reorganization) of the flooded and increasingly flooded lands into zhou or islands (the political ancestors of the modern zhou or provinces, both of which may be written with the same character, 州) alleviated some of the administrative difficulties, the fact remained that despite the additional four years of effort, Gun still had not only failed to achieve any success towards solving the main problem of the ongoing flooding, but the water even kept on rising. Gun insisted on staying the course with the dikes, insisting that despite the overwhelming failure so far that the people work even harder and to continue to build more and higher.[15] Not only that, but Gun questioned the legitimacy of Shun as a ruler due to his modest background.[16]
Acts of Shun
Emperor Shun performs divination in the palace, with Yu present
After the solemnities of his final accession to power, the first thing Shun did was to reform the calendar.[17] Next, for the period of a month, Shun convoked a series of meetings, ceremonies, and interviews at the imperial capital with the Four Mountains and the heads, lords, or princes of the realm's houses, clans, surnames, tribes, and nations.[17]
Shun then went to Mount Tai as the beginning of his tour of inspection of the flood-ravaged realm.[18] Here, at Taishan, he met with the princes of the eastern regions; and, after certain religious ceremonies, he standardized weights, measures, and ritual.[19] Then he went on to do the same to the south, the west, and the north, meeting at the sacred mountains of each region with the princes and leaders of each region, and standardizing their rules, measures, and practices.[20] All of these acts can be seen as preparatory to the fighting of the flood, as this was an effort requiring extraordinary levels of synchronized and coordinated activity over a relatively large territory: the timing was synchronized through the calendar reform and the engineering measures were made possible by standardizing the weights and measures.[21]
Towards the end of the year, Shun returned to the imperial seat, and after a sacrificial offering of a bullock at his ancestral temple, he then put into action the plan that he had developed during his working tour of inspection.[20] One of these was to divide the empire into twelve administrative units (zhou), each one administered from the highest mountain within that area.[20] This was doubtlessly a useful expedient in the face of the rising and unpredictable flood waters. Another of Shun's acts was administrative reform.
Gun's demise
With Gun's overwhelming failure to control the flood waters and his questioning of the legitimacy of Shun's rule, he became labeled as an intransigent. Accordingly, as part of his administrative reforms, Shun had Gun banished to Feather Mountain. Accounts vary considerably about the details of Gun's demise; but, in any case, the sources seem to agree that he met the end of his human existence at Feather Mountain (although again accounts vary as to whether this end was death, through execution by Zhurong, or through a metamorphic transformation into — depending on account — a yellow bear, a three-footed tortoise, or a yellow dragon.[22])
Somehow, Gun had a son, Yu. Various myths suggest that this occurred under circumstances that would not meet the normal criteria for historical fact. Yu would continue the struggle to contain the flood waters.
Great Yu controls the flood
Yu the Great and his human and chelonian associates, fighting the flood. Relief outside the Water Resources and Hydro Power Lab, Wuhan University (2005)
Yu tried a different approach to the project of flood control; which in the end having achieved success, earned Yu renown throughout Chinese history, in which the Gun-Yu Great Flood is commonly referred to as "Great Yu Controls the Waters" (Chinese:大禹治水; pinyin:Dà Yǔ Zhìshuǐ). Yu's approach seems to have involved an approach more oriented toward drainage and less towards containment with dams and dikes. According to the more fancily embellished versions of the story it was also necessary for him to subdue various supernatural beings as well as recruit the assistance of others, for instance a channel-digging dragon and a giant mud-hauling tortoise (or turtle).
洪水滔天，浩浩懷山襄陵，下民昏墊。予乘四載，隨山刊木，暨益奏庶鮮食。予決九川，距四海，濬畎澮距川。
The inundating waters seemed to assail the heavens, and in their extent embraced the hills and overtopped the great mounds, so that the people were bewildered and overwhelmed. I opened passages for the streams throughout the nine provinces and conducted them to the seas. I deepened the channels and conducted them to the streams.
—Yu the Great, quoted according to tradition, describing his work in regard to the flood: Book of Documents, ch. "Yi and Ji" 益稷
Various myths, or versions of myths, specify that Yu received help from various sources which helped him to succeed in controlling the Great Flood. Hebo, the god of the Yellow River is supposed to have provided Yu with a map of the river and its surroundings which helped him make his plans.[23] Alternatively, the Yellow River map is said to have been provided to Yu by Houtu.[24]
Aftermath
After his work in controlling the flood waters, Yu became sole respected[25] emperor and went on to found the Xia dynasty, when his son Qi of Xia succeeded him, thus establishing the beginning of a tradition of dynastic succession through primogeniture. But, before this, after ending his work against the flooding, Yu was said to have assembled all of the heroes/gods involved in fighting the flood together on Mount Guiji (in modern Zhejiang) at a certain time; but, when Fangfeng arrived late Yu had him executed — later it turned out that Fangfeng was late because he had stopped to fight a local flood which he encountered on his way.
Besides the motif of controlling the flood waters another motif is particularly characteristic of the Chinese Gun Yu flood myth, namely the acquisition of the agricultural civilization.[26] In some versions, this includes the appointment of Ji Qi (later called Houji) as Minister of Agriculture. Other versions go into the details of how a tiny remnant of people consisting of only two or a few individuals managed to survive the flood and the re-population/civilization process following the worldwide disaster, and/or how grain seeds or fire were obtained.[27] Another figure in this regard is Yi, also known as Boyi or Bo Yi.
Historicity
The narrative of the Great Flood of prehistoric China may provide some insight into social development during this era. David Hawkes comments on the way that the various versions of the Gun-Yu story seem to contrast the relative success or failure, or at least the differences, between Gun, the father, and his son, Yu. Hawkes proposes a symbolic interpretation of a societal transition. In this case, Gun represents a society at an earlier technological stage, which engages in small scale agriculture which involves raising areas of arable land sufficiently above the level of the marshes existing then in the flood plains of the Yellow River system, including tributaries: from this perspective the "magically-expanding" xirang soil can be understood as representing a type of floating garden, made up of soil, brushwood, and similar materials. Yu and his work in controlling the flood would symbolize a later type of society, a one which possessed of technological innovations allowing a much larger scale approach to transforming wetlands to arable fields. Hawkes explains the miraculous transformations of the landscape which appear in the mythological descriptions as symbolically representative of a gridded drainage system engineered to permanently eliminate entire marsh areas, in favor of agriculturally exploitable fields.[28]
Recent archaeological and geological discoveries may have some bearing on the story of the Great Flood.[29] Archaeological evidence of a large outburst flood at Jishi Gorge on the Yellow River has been dated to about 1920 BCE, and is suggested to have been the basis for the later myth. A colossal landslide created a natural dam across the river which was breached about a year later. The resulting flood could plausibly have travelled 2,000km (1,200mi) down the river and the resulting instability of river channels might have lasted up to twenty years. About this time, the Neolithic gave way to the Bronze Age in the Yellow River valley. The authors suggest that this coincided with the beginning of the Xia, several centuries later than traditionally thought, and that the Erlitou culture is an archaeological manifestation of the Xia dynasty.[3]
Dating
The Xihe brothers receive orders from emperor Yao to organise the calendar
The historian K. C. Wu believes that the "Canon of Yao" ("yaodian") in the Book of History (Shujing) has historical value, despite being one of the "second batch" or "new" texts comprising this collection of documents, which despite the problematic nature of their textual transmission, and that they appear to be reconstructed or heavily edited and interpolated, as compared with the "first" or "old" batch, which supposedly survived the Fires of Qin (the Burning of books and burying of scholars together with the destruction by fire of the Qin imperial library at the collapse of its dynasty). The first batch documents allegedly remained hidden for about a century, until accidentally discovered and handed over to a descendant of Confucius. Wu accepts that the "yaodian" is not a direct copy of the original, however he argues that it was based on the same, authentic sources as the first batch documents, perhaps even being to some extent based on the actual original. However, the clinching factor which K. C. Wu claims is objective, extra-textual confirmation of "Yao's Canon" (and by implication, the rest of the second batch documents) has directly to do with dating the Great Flood, specifically to around the year 2200 BCE. This is based on comparing astronomical data from the text with modern astronomical or astrophysical analysis.[30]
At the beginning of his reign, Yao was supposed to have appointed four ministerial officials (two sets of two brothers) to make the necessary astronomical observations for a reformed calendar. Each of these individuals were sent to the limits of the royal territory, one in each of the cardinal directions, where they were supposed to observe certain stars at sunset on each of the solstices and equinoxes, so the results could then be compared, and the calendar accordingly adjusted. K. C. Wu cites references from two modern astronomers that largely confirm a date of around 2200 for Yao's reign, which is in accord with traditional, accepted dating.[31]
In view of Yao and his reign, this evidence for accurate astronomical observations could be interpreted as an intrusion of archeoastronomy into the realm of mythology; in other words, ancient astronomical observations have been incorporated with mythological material, or the other way around.
↑ "...Yu then traveled throughout China, cleaning up the rivers and dredging canals; hence the floods of the rivers were guided to enter the eastern sea. Yu won great respect among the people and henceforth became the leader of all China after the death of Shun." Feng 2013, p.48.
The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In traditional historiography, the Xia was succeeded by the Shang dynasty.
Chinese mythology is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural traditions. Populated with engaging narratives featuring extraordinary individuals and beings endowed with magical powers, these stories often unfold in fantastical mythological realms or historical epochs. Similar to numerous other mythologies, Chinese mythology has historically been regarded, at least partially, as a factual record of the past.
Emperor Shun was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition also holds that those with the surname Hu (胡) are descendants of Emperor Shun. The Duke Hu of Chen, 胡公滿, a descendant of Shun, became the founder of the State of Chen. Later Chen dynasty emperors such as Chen Baxian would also claim descent from Shun.
Emperor Yao was a legendary Chinese ruler, according to various sources, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Yu the Great or Yu the Engineer was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for "the first successful state efforts at flood control," his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominently in the Chinese legend titled "Great Yu Controls the Waters". Yu and other "sage-kings" of ancient China were lauded for their virtues and morals by Confucius and other Chinese teachers. He is one of the few Chinese monarchs who is posthumously honored with the epithet "the Great".
Yinglong is a winged dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology.
Zhurong, also known as Chongli, is an important personage in Chinese mythology and Chinese folk religion. According to the Huainanzi and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south.
The longma is a fabled winged horse with dragon scales in Chinese mythology. Seeing a longma was an omen of a legendary sage-ruler, particularly one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Gun, also known as Count of Chong, is a figure in Chinese mythology, sometimes noted as the father of Yu the Great, the founder of the Xia dynasty. Gun was appointed to the task of controlling the Great Flood by Emperor Yao on the advice of the Four Mountains. Gun used dykes to try to stop the flooding but the dykes collapsed, killing many people.
The Xiangshuishen or Xiang River Goddesses are goddesses of the Xiang River in Chinese folk religion. The Xiang flowed into Dongting Lake through the ancient kingdom of Chu, whose songs in their worship have been recorded in a work attributed to Qu Yuan. According to the Shanhaijing, the Xiang River deities were daughters of the supreme deity, Di. According to a somewhat later tradition, the Xiang goddesses were daughters of Emperor Yao, who were named Ehuang and Nüying who were said to have been married by him to his chosen successor, and eventually emperor, Shun, as a sort of test of his administrative abilities: then, later, they became goddesses, after the death of their husband.
Hou Ji was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing millet to humanity during the time of the Xia dynasty. Millet was the original staple grain of northern China, prior to the introduction of wheat. His name translates as Lord of Millet and was a title granted to him by Emperor Shun, according to Records of the Grand Historian. Houji was credited with developing the philosophy of Agriculturalism and with service during the Great Flood in the reign of Yao; he was also claimed as an ancestor of the Ji clan that became the ruling family of the Zhou dynasty or a founder of the Zhou.
Yi was a tribal leader of Longshan culture and a culture hero in Chinese mythology who helped Shun and Yu the Great control the Great Flood; he served afterwards as a government minister and a successor as ruler of the empire. Yi is also credited with the invention of digging wells. He was the ancestor of the ruling houses of the Zhao, Qin, Xu and Liang states.
Xirang was a magical soil in Chinese mythology with the ability to self-expand and grow continuously. Its properties made it particularly effective for use by Gun and Yu the Great in fighting the rising waters of the Great Flood.
Four Mountains or Four Peaks variously interpreted from Chinese mythology or the most ancient level of Chinese history as being a person or four persons or four gods, depending upon the specific source. The ambiguous Four Mountains feature prominently in the myth of the Great Flood, and the related myths of Emperor Yao, Gun, Shun, and Yu the Great.
Feather Mountain is one of many important mythological mountains in Chinese mythology, particularly associated with the Great Flood. According to the mythological studies of Lihui Yang, Gun was executed on the "outskirts" of Feather Mountain by Zhu Rong, either for stealing the xirang or for failing to control the flood waters. According to K. C. Wu, Emperor Shun exiled Gun to Feather Mountain for lèse-majesté, but that Gun was not executed; and, rather, that such accounts result from misunderstanding the meanings associated with the ancient Chinese character jí (殛), which appears in certain source works.
The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best potential candidates to serve as administrative officials, for the purpose of recruiting them for the state's bureaucracy. With the avowed purpose of testing and selecting candidates for merit, the examination system markedly influenced various aspects of society and culture in Imperial China, including Chinese mythology.
Yubu, translated as Pace(s) of Yu or Step(s) of Yu, is the basic mystic dance step of religious Daoism. This ancient walking or dancing technique typically involves dragging one foot after another, and is explained in reference to the legendary Yu the Great, who became lame on one side of his body from exerting himself while establishing order in the world after the Great Flood. Daoist religions, especially during the Six Dynasties period (220–589), incorporated Yubu into rituals, such as the Bugang 步罡 "pace the Big Dipper", in which a Taoist priest would symbolically walk the nine stars of the Beidou 北斗 "Big Dipper" in order to acquire that constellation's supernatural energy.
The Yellow River Map, Scheme, or Diagram, also known by its Chinese name as the Hetu, is an ancient Chinese diagram that appears in myths concerning the invention of writing by Cangjie and other culture heroes. It is usually paired with the Luoshu Square—named in reference to the Yellow River's Luo tributary—and used with the Luoshu in various contexts involving Chinese geomancy, numerology, philosophy, and early natural science.
The Flood Mythology of China, or Great Flood of China is a deluge theme which happened in China. Derk Bodde (1961) stated that "from all mythological themes in ancient Chinese, the earliest and so far most pervasive is about flood." The mythology also has shared characteristics with other Great Floods all over the world, although it also has unique characteristics or different focuses. Lu Yilu (2002) groups all versions of great flood into three themes: "the heroes controls the flood; "brother-sister marriage to repopulating the world"; and "the flood which is drowning the whole city along with its citizens".
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