View source for Yu the Great

{{Short description|Xia Dynasty king and founder}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Redirect2|Da Yu|Ta Yu|other uses|Dayu (disambiguation)|and|Tayu (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Yu the Great<br/>{{langn|zh|大禹}}
| succession   = [[Xia dynasty#Sovereigns of the Xia dynasty|King of the Xia dynasty]]
| image        = King Yu of Xia.jpg
| image_size   = 180px
| caption      = Yu depicted by [[Song-era]] artist Ma Lin (馬麟), [[National Palace Museum]]
| death_place  = [[Mount Kuaiji]]
| spouse       = Lady Tushan
| issue        = [[Qi of Xia]]
| father       = [[Gun (Chinese mythology)|Gun]]
| mother       = [[Nüzhi]]
| predecessor  = ''Dynasty established''
| successor    = [[Qi of Xia|Qi]]
| module       = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes
 | c = 大禹
 | p = Dà Yǔ
 | w = {{tonesup|Ta4 Yü3}}
 | mi = {{IPAc-cmn|d|a|4|-|yu|3}}
 | j = Daai6 Jyu5
 | y = Daaih Yúh
 | ci = {{IPAc-yue|d|aai|6|-|j|yu|5}}
 | poj = {{ubl|Tāi-í|Tāi-ú}}
 | oc-bs = *{{IPA|lˤat-s ɢʷraʔ}}
}}
}}

'''Yu the Great'''<!-- Chinese in infobox; MOS-ZH --> or '''Yu the Engineer''' was a legendary king in [[ancient China]] who was credited with "the first successful state efforts at [[flood control]]",<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last1=Ivanhoe |first1=Philip J. |author-link=Philip J. Ivanhoe |title=Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy |last2=Van Norden |first2=Bryan W. |author-link2=Bryan W. Van Norden |publisher=Hackett |year=2005 |isbn=0-87220-781-1 |edition=2nd |location=Indianapolis |pages=383}}</ref> his establishment of the [[Xia dynasty]], which inaugurated [[Dynasties in Chinese history|dynastic rule in China]], and for his upright moral character.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mungello |first=David E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x3vE0UMPkMC&q=%22yu+the+great%22+legendary&pg=PA97 |title=The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7425-5798-7 |edition=3rd |page=97}}</ref><ref name="tonsi40">{{harvp|Dai|Gong|2003|p=40}}</ref> He figures prominently in the Chinese legend titled "Great Yu Controls the Waters" ({{zhi|p=Dà Yǔ zhì shuǐ|c=大禹治水}}). Yu and other sage-kings of ancient China were lauded for their virtues and morals by [[Confucius]] and other Chinese teachers.<ref name="tonsi36">{{harvp|Dai|Gong|2003|p=36}}</ref> He is one of the few Chinese monarchs who is posthumously honored with the epithet "[[the Great]]".

There is no contemporary evidence of Yu's existence as traditionally attested in the ''[[Shiji]]''. Yu is said to have ruled as sage-king during the late 3rd millennium&nbsp;BC, which predates the [[oracle bone script]] used during the late [[Shang dynasty]]—the oldest known form of writing in China—by nearly a millennium.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3XG3H_WlM8C&pg=PT361 |title=A Companion to Chinese Archaeology |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4443-3529-3 |editor-last=Underhill |editor-first=Anne P. |page=317}}</ref> Yu's name was not inscribed on any artifacts which were produced during the proposed era in which he lived, nor was it inscribed on the later oracle bones; his name was first inscribed on vessels which date to the [[Western Zhou]] period ({{circa|1045}}{{snd}}771&nbsp;BC).

== Name ==
The ''[[Shuowen Jiezi]]'' ({{circa|121&nbsp;AD}}) gives the earliest definition of ''yu'' {{lang|zh|禹}} under the {{kxr|禸|link=y}} radical: 'bug', 'reptile'; a [[Chinese character classification#Pictograms|pictograph]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry=禹 |entry-url=https://www.zdic.net/hant/禹 |author-link=Xu Shen |orig-date=c. 100|date=2009 |language=lzh |given=Shen |surname=Xu |title=Shuowen Jiezi | title-link=Shuowen Jiezi|via =Zdic 漢典}}</ref>

Historical linguist Axel Schuessler reconstructs the [[Old Chinese]] pronunciation of {{lang|zh|禹}} as {{tlit|och|*waʔ}}, and compares it to either [[Proto-Tibeto-Burman]] *''was'' 'bee', 'honey', or [[Waic languages|Proto-Waic]] *''wak'' 'insect' (further from [[Proto-Palaungic]] *''ʋaːk'').<ref>Schuessler, Axel (2007). ''ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese''. University of Hawai'i Press. p. 588</ref><ref>Sidwell, Paul (2015). ''The Palaungic Languages: Classification, Reconstruction and Comparative Lexicon''. München: Lincom Europa. p. 103</ref>

== Ancestry and early life ==
[[File:大禹治水圖.jpg|thumb|[[Han dynasty]] depiction of Yu, from the [[Wu Liang shrine]]]]
Transmitted sources uniformly asserted that Yu was the son of [[Gun (Chinese mythology)|Gun]], whose name denotes a kind of mythical fish,<ref>''[[Kangxi Dictionary]]'', vol. 15 [https://ctext.org/kangxi-zidian/195/7/zh#n359028 "魚 radical 7"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206215231/https://ctext.org/kangxi-zidian/195/7/zh#n359028 |date=2021-12-06 }} quote: "鯀：《唐韻》《集韻》《正韻》𠀤古本切，音袞。'''《說文》魚也。《玉篇》大魚也。'''又《書·堯典》於，鯀哉。《傳》鯀，崇伯之名。'''《釋文》禹父也。'''《廣韻》亦作鮌。"</ref> though they differed on Gun's origins. According to [[Sima Qian]]'s ''[[Shiji]]'' ({{circa|90&nbsp;BC}}), Yu's father was Gun, grandfather was [[Zhuanxu]], great-grandfather was [[Changyi]], and great-great-grandfather was the [[Yellow Emperor]], Changyi and Gun being mere officials, not emperors.<ref>{{harvnb|Shiji|loc=Annals of Xia}} [https://ctext.org/shiji/xia-ben-ji "Annals of Xia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709214216/https://ctext.org/shiji/xia-ben-ji |date=2021-07-09 }} quote: "禹之父曰鯀，鯀之父曰帝顓頊，顓頊之父曰昌意，昌意之父曰黃帝。禹者，黃帝之玄孫而帝顓頊之孫也。禹之曾大父昌意及父鯀皆不得在帝位，為人臣。"</ref><ref>[[Shiben|Book of Generations' Origins]] ({{lang|zh|世本}}) [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%96%E6%9C%AC#%E5%A4%8F "Xia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111025724/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%96%E6%9C%AC#%E5%A4%8F |script-quote=zh:顓頊生鯀。…… 鯀為顓頊子。…… 顓頊生𩩌，𩩌生高密，是為禹也。}}</ref><ref name="tonsi38">{{harvp|Dai|Gong|2003|p=38}}</ref><ref>Zynews.com. "[http://guoxue.zynews.com/XianFeng/2008/2474.html Zynews.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718162159/http://guoxue.zynews.com/XianFeng/2008/2474.html |date=2011-07-18 }}." ''Xia dynasty brief history.'' Retrieved on 2010-09-18.</ref> The ''[[Book of Han]]'', quoting Lord Yu Imperial Lineage, stated that Yu's father Gun was a five-generation-descendant of Zhuanxu.<ref>{{cite book
| surname= Ban |given=Gu
| author-link= Ban Gu
| surname2= Ban |given2=Zhao
| author2-link = Ban Zhao
| surname3 = Ban |given3=Biao
| author3-link= Ban Biao
| script-title=zh:漢書
| lang=lzh
| trans-title = Book of Han
| chapter-url= https://ctext.org/han-shu/lv-li-zhi/zh
| chapter= on Regulations and Calendars B"
| script-quote=zh:伯禹帝系曰，顓頊五世而生鯀，鯀生禹}}</ref> The ''[[Classic of Mountains and Seas]]'' stated that Yu's father Gun (also known as {{zhi|c=白馬|p-Báimǎ|l=White Horse}}) was the son of Luoming, who in turn was the son of the Yellow Emperor.<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:山海經 |trans-title=Classic of Mountains and Seas |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%25E5%25B1%25B1%25E6%25B5%25B7%25E7%25B6%2593/%25E6%25B5%25B7%25E5%2585%25A7%25E7%25B6%2593 |language=lzh |via=Wikisource |volume=18 |script-quote=zh:黄帝生駱明，駱明生白馬，白馬是為鯀。}}</ref>

Yu's father, Gun, was [[enfeoffed]] at Shiniu of Mount Wen ({{lang|zh|汶山}}), in modern-day [[Beichuan County]], Sichuan, Yu was said to have been potentially born there,<ref>"[http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/gzcy/zxft/bjzl/gzwcdz/200805/t20080513_212741.htm Jiangsu.gov.cn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718220138/http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/gzcy/zxft/bjzl/gzwcdz/200805/t20080513_212741.htm |date=2011-07-18 }}." {{lang|zh|四川省汶川縣情及人文地理}}. '''(Chinese)''' Retrieved on 2010-09-18.</ref> though there are debates as to whether he was born instead in [[Shifang]].<ref>Scta.gov.cn. "[http://www.scta.gov.cn/web/main.jsp?go=newsDetail&pid=6&cid=15&id=20597 Scta.gov.cn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707041521/http://www.scta.gov.cn/web/main.jsp?go=newsDetail&pid=6&cid=15&id=20597 |date=2011-07-07 }}." '''(Chinese)''' Retrieved on 2010-09-18.</ref> Yu's mother was of the Youxin ({{lang|zh|有莘氏}}) clan, named either Nüzhi ({{lang|zh|女志}}) or Nüxi ({{lang|zh|女嬉}}). His surname was [[Si (surname 姒)|Si]], later Xia after the state he was enfeoffed with, while his personal name was Wenming ({{lang|zh|文命}}), according to the ''Shiji''.<ref>{{harvnb|Shiji|loc=Annals of Xis}}[https://ctext.org/shiji/xia-ben-ji#n4505 "夏禹，名曰文命。"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709214216/https://ctext.org/shiji/xia-ben-ji#n4505 |date=2021-07-09 }}</ref><ref>[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7002#%E5%A4%AA%E5%8F%B2%E5%85%AC%E8%AB%96 Sima Qian's discussion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227153408/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7002#%E5%A4%AA%E5%8F%B2%E5%85%AC%E8%AB%96 |date=2021-12-27 }} on "Annals of Xia" in the ''[[Shiji]]'': "禹爲姒姓，其後分封，用國爲姓，故有夏后氏、有扈氏、有男氏、斟尋氏、彤城氏、襃氏、費氏、杞氏、繒氏、辛氏、冥氏、斟戈氏/斟灌氏" translation: "Yu was surnamed Si, he later was enfeoffed [and] used the nation['s appellation] as surname. Thence [we] have the surnames: Xiahou, Youhu, Younan, Zhenxun, Tongcheng, Bao, Fei, [[Qi (Henan)|Qi]], Zeng, Xin, Ming, Zhenge/Zhenguan"</ref><ref>Shiji [https://ctext.org/shiji/wu-di-ben-ji#n4502 "Annals of the Five Emperors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510220701/https://ctext.org/shiji/wu-di-ben-ji#n4502 |date=2022-05-10 }} "帝禹為夏后而別氏，姓姒氏。"</ref>

When Yu was a child, Emperor [[Yao (ruler)|Yao]] enfeoffed Gun as lord of Chong, usually identified as the middle peak of [[Mount Song]]. Yu is thus believed to have grown up on the slopes of Mount Song, just south of the [[Yellow River]].<ref>Hubeiwater.gov.cn. [http://www.hubeiwater.gov.cn/iNews/Index/Catalog113/29318.aspx Hubeiwater.gov.cn {{lang|zh|大禹三过家门而不入与洪湖抗洪十字歌的精神浅谈.}}] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707034737/http://www.hubeiwater.gov.cn/iNews/Index/Catalog113/29318.aspx |date=2011-07-07 }} '''(Chinese)'''. Retrieved 2010-09-18.</ref> Yu was described as a credulous{{What|reason=credulous means "having or showing too great a readiness to believe things".  Is that what was meant?|date=January 2025}}, hard working, quick witted person with morals.<ref>{{harvnb|Shiji}} 禹爲人敏給克勤；其惪不違，其仁可親，其言可信；聲爲律，身爲度，稱以出</ref> He later married a woman from Mount Tu ({{lang|zh|塗山}}) who is generally referred to as Tushanshi ({{zhi|c=塗山氏|l=Lady Tushan}}).<ref name="history18">{{harvp|Wang|2006|p=18}}</ref> They had a son named [[Qi of Xia|Qi]], a name literally meaning "revelation".<ref name="history18" />

The location of Mount Tu has always been disputed. The two most probable locations are Mount Tu in [[Anhui]], and the Tu Peak of the [[Southern Mountain of Chongqing]].{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

A separate legend of Yu's birth is attested in an excavated manuscript, the provenance of which is provisionally assigned to the [[Warring States period]]. In this legend, Yu's mother became pregnant after consuming the grains of a [[Job's tears]] plant, and gave birth to him through her back after a three-year gestation period.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Sarah Allan |year=2009 |title=Not the Lun Yu: The Chu Script Bamboo Slip Manuscript, Zigao, and the Nature of Early Confucianism |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=72 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X0900007X |jstor=40378848 |s2cid=162500383 |given=Sarah |surname=Allan |pages=132–133, 145}}</ref>

=== Great Flood legend ===
{{main|Great Flood (China)}}
[[File:Portraits of Famous Men - Da Yu.jpg|thumb|Yu as depicted in the album ''Portraits of Famous Men'' {{circa|1900}}, housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
During the reign of [[Emperor Yao]], the Chinese heartland was frequently plagued by floods that prevented further economic and social development.<ref name="Lu">{{Cite book |last=Lu |first=Xing |title=Rhetoric in ancient China, fifth to third century BCE: a comparison with classical Greek rhetoric |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-57003-216-5 |series=Studies in rhetoric communication |location=Columbia |pages=46–47}}</ref> Yu's father, Gun, was tasked with devising a system to control the flooding. He spent more than nine years building a series of dikes and dams along the riverbanks, but all of this was ineffective, despite (or because of) the great number and size of these dikes and the use of a special [[Xirang|self-expanding soil]]. As an adult, Yu continued his father's work and made a careful study of the river systems in an attempt to learn why his father's great efforts had failed.

Collaborating with [[Hou Ji]], a semi-mythical agricultural master, Yu successfully devised a system of flood controls that were crucial in establishing the prosperity of the Chinese heartland. Instead of directly damming the rivers' flows, Yu constructed a system of [[Surface irrigation|irrigation canal]]s which redirected flood water into fields, as well as expending a great effort to dredge the riverbeds.<ref name="tonsi38" /> Yu is said to have eaten and slept with the common workers and spent most of his time personally assisting the work of dredging the silty beds of the rivers for the thirteen years the projects took to complete. The dredging and irrigation were successful, and allowed ancient Chinese culture to flourish along the Yellow River, [[Wei River]], and other waterways of the Chinese heartland. The project earned Yu renown throughout Chinese history, and is referred to in Chinese history as "Great Yu Controls the Waters" ({{zhi|c=大禹治水|p=Dà Yǔ zhì shuǐ}}). In particular, [[Mount Longmen (Shanxi)|Mount Longmen]] along the Yellow River had a very narrow channel which blocked water from flowing freely east toward the ocean. Yu is said to have brought a large number of workers to open up this channel, which has been known ever since as "Yu's Gateway" ({{lang|zh|禹門口}}).<ref name="tonsi38" />

In a retold version of this story as presented in [[Wang Jia (Taoist)|Wang Jia]]'s ''[[Shi Yi Ji]]'' (4th century AD), Yu is assisted in his work by a yellow dragon and a black turtle (not necessarily related to the [[Black Tortoise]] in [[Chinese mythology]]).<ref name="flood">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Mark Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6yCq-NEdKeUC |title=The flood myths of early China |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-7914-6663-9 |series=SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture |pages=104–105, 191–192}} (especially, notes 90 and 97). The relevant text is in [[:zh:s:拾遺記/卷二|Shi Yi Ji, Chapter 2]]: "{{lang|zh|黃龍曳尾於前，玄龜負青泥於後}}", etc.</ref> Another local myth says that Yu created the [[Sanmenxia]] in the Yellow River by cutting a mountain ridge with a divine battle-axe to control flooding. This is perhaps a reference to a meteorite stone—something hard enough to etch away at the hard bedrock of [[Mount Longmen (Shanxi)|Mount Longmen]].{{cn|date=August 2024}}

Traditional stories say that Yu sacrificed a great deal of his body to control the floods. For example, his hands were said to be thickly calloused, and his feet were completely covered with calluses. In one common story, Yu had only been married four days when he was given the task of fighting the flood. He said goodbye to his wife, saying that he did not know when he would return. During the thirteen years of flooding, he passed by his own family's doorstep three times, but each time he did not return inside his own home. The first time he passed, he heard that his wife was in labor. The second time he passed by, his son could already call out to his father. His family urged him to return home, but he said it was impossible as the flood was still going on. The third time Yu was passing by, his son was more than ten years old. Each time, Yu refused to go in the door, saying that as the flood was rendering countless number of people homeless, he could not rest.<ref name="history18" /><ref name="history19">{{harvp|Wang|2006|p=19}}</ref>

Yu supposedly killed [[Gonggong]]'s minister [[Xiangliu]], a nine-headed snake monster.

==Nine Provinces==
{{main|Yu Gong|Nine Provinces|Nine Tripod Cauldrons}}
[[File:Nine Provinces of China.png|thumb|Map showing the Nine provinces defined by Yu the Great during the legendary flood]]

[[Emperor Shun]], who reigned after Yao, was so impressed by Yu's engineering work and diligence that he passed the throne to Yu instead of to his own son. Yu is said to have initially declined the throne, but was so popular with other local lords and chiefs that he agreed to become the new emperor, at age 53. He established a capital at Anyi ({{lang|zh|安邑}}), the ruins of which are in modern [[Xia County]] in southern [[Shanxi]] and founded what would be called the Xia, traditionally considered China's first dynasty.<ref name="history21">{{harvp|Wang|2006|p=21}}</ref>

Yu's flood control work is said to have made him intimately familiar with all regions of what was then [[Huaxia]] territory. According to his ''[[Yu Gong]]'' treatise in the ''[[Book of Documents]]'', Yu divided the Chinese world into nine ''[[Zhou (country subdivision)|zhou]]'' or provinces. These were [[Jizhou (ancient China)|Jizhou]], [[Yan Province|Yanzhou]], [[Qing Province|Qingzhou]], [[Xuzhou (ancient China)|Xuzhou]], [[Yang Province|Yangzhou]], [[Jing Province|Jingzhou]], [[Yuzhou (ancient China)|Yuzhou]], [[Liangzhou (ancient China)|Liangzhou]], and [[Yong Province|Yongzhou]].<ref name="n3">Ng Saam-sing {{lang|zh|吾三省}}. (2008). ''Zong-guok Man-faa Bui-ging Bat-cin Ci'' {{lang|zh|中國文化背景八千詞}}. Hong Kong: ''Seong Mou Jan Syu Gwun'' {{lang|zh|商務印書館(香港)}}. {{ISBN|962-07-1846-1}}, {{ISBN|978-962-07-1846-5}}. p 37.</ref>

According to the ''[[Rites of Zhou]]'', there was no Xuzhou or Liangzhou, instead there were [[Youzhou]] and [[Bingzhou]], but according to the ''[[Erya]]'' there was no Qingzhou or Liangzhou, instead there was Youzhou ({{lang|zh|幽州}}) and Yingzhou ({{lang|zh|營州}}).<ref name="n3" /> Either way there were nine divisions. Once he had received bronze from these nine territories, he created ''[[Ding (vessel)|ding]]'' vessels called the [[Nine Tripod Cauldrons]].<ref>Bjaaland Welch, Patricia. [2008] (2008). Chinese art: a guide to motifs and visual imagery. Tuttle Publishing. {{ISBN|0-8048-3864-X}}, 9780804838641. p 262.</ref> Yu then established his capital at Yang ({{lang|zh|陽城}}, modern [[Dengfeng]]).<ref>{{lang|zh|李玉潔}}. [2003] (2003). {{lang|zh|中國早期國家性質. 知書房出版集團.}} {{ISBN|986-7938-17-8}}, {{ISBN|978-986-7938-17-6}}.</ref> It is said in the ''[[Book of Documents]]'' that the [[Miao people]]  rebelled under their leader, but he treated them harshly and so many abandoned him. He fought with Yu, who had the intention to kill him, but after defeating him spared him and reformed him for 3 years. He became wise and ruled well and the people returned.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XI_qnQEACAAJ |title=The Most Venerable Book (Shang Shu) |publisher=Penguin |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-14-119746-3 |translator-surname=Palmer |translator-given=Martin}}</ref> The ''[[Bamboo Annals]]'' claim Yu killed [[Fangfeng]], one of the northern leaders, to reinforce his hold on the throne.<ref>{{lang|zh|王仲孚}}. [1996] (1996). {{lang|zh|中國上古史專題研究. 五南圖書出版股份有限公司}}. {{ISBN|957-11-1290-9}}, {{ISBN|978-957-11-1290-9}}. p 392.</ref><ref name="ba1">Bamboo Annals Xia chapter</ref>

== Mausoleum ==
{{mim|direction = vertical
| title = Mausoleum for Yu the Great in Shaoxing, Zhejiang
| image1 = Yu the Great mausoleum stele in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China.jpg
| caption1 = Mausoleum stele
| image2 = Temple of Yu the Great in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China.jpg
| caption2 = Temple grounds
}}
According to the ''Bamboo Annals'', Yu ruled the Xia Dynasty for forty-five years and, according to ''Yue Jueshu'' ({{lang|zh|越絕書}}), he died from an illness.<ref name="ba1" /><ref name="cculture1">{{Cite web |script-title=zh:大禹祭典 |url=http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/cn_whyc/2006-10/19/content_87161.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911080836/http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/cn_whyc/2006-10/19/content_87161.htm |archive-date=2010-09-11 |access-date=2010-09-26 |website=Chinaculture.org}}</ref> It is said that he died at [[Mount Kuaiji]], south of present-day [[Shaoxing]], while on a hunting tour to the eastern frontier of his empire, and was buried there. The Yu Mausoleum ({{lang|zh|大禹陵}}) known today was first built in the [[Northern and Southern period]] (6th century) in his honor.<ref name="corg1">{{ cite web | website= China Information Center |url= http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/atam/115068.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717223759/http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/atam/115068.htm |archive-date=2012-07-17 |title=Yu Mausoleum|df = dmy |access-date =2010-09-26}}</ref> It is located four kilometers southeast of Shaoxing city.<ref name="corg1" /> Most of the structure was rebuilt many times in later periods. The three main parts of the mausoleum are the tomb, temple, and memorial of Yu.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://lvyou.eco.gov.cn/guonei/3/1/1/2009/1119/1989.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707032506/http://lvyou.eco.gov.cn/guonei/3/1/1/2009/1119/1989.html |archive-date=2011-07-07 |script-title=zh:治水英雄大禹的葬地：大禹陵 | access-date= 2010-09-26|df=dmy | script-work=zh:旅游頻道 |date=2009-11-19}}</ref> Sima Qian once "went to Kuaiji and explored the cave of Yu". The tomb faces east and west and has a grate gate, a canal and a pavilion for the Great Yu Tomb.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yu mausoleum |url=https://www.zj.gov.cn/art/2020/12/3/art_1229441734_149.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206004144/https://www.zj.gov.cn/art/2020/12/3/art_1229441734_149.html |archive-date=2022-12-06 |access-date=2022-12-06}}</ref> In many statues he is seen carrying a hoe. A number of emperors in imperial times traveled there to perform ceremonies in his honor, notably [[Qin Shi Huang]].<ref name="cculture1" />

== Historicity ==
[[File:大禹治水 兗州.jpg|thumb|Statue of Yu near [[Si River]] in [[Yanzhou, Jining|Yanzhou]], [[山东|Shandong]]]]
There is no evidence suggesting the existence of Yu as a historical figure until several centuries after the invention of writing in China, during the [[Western Zhou]] dynasty—nearly a millennium after the traditional dating of his reign. What was eventually recorded in historiography consists of myth and legend. No inscriptions on artifacts dated to the supposed era of Yu, or the later oracle bones, contain any mention of him. The first archeological evidence of Yu comes from vessels made about a thousand years after his supposed death.<ref>{{Cite journal <!-- Citation bot no -->|first=Constance A. |year=2013 |title=Sage King Yu 禹 and the Bin Gong ''xu'' 豳公盪 |journal=Early China |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=35/36 |jstor=24392401 |surname=Cook |page=77 |doi=10.1017/S0362502800000444 }}</ref>

During the early 20th century, the [[Doubting Antiquity School]] of historiography theorized that Yu was not a person in the earliest legends, but rather a god or mythical beast who was connected with water, and possibly with the mythical [[Dragon King]]s and their control over water. According to this theory, Yu was represented on ceremonial bronzes by the early Xia people, and by the beginning of the Zhou dynasty, the legendary figure had morphed into the first man, who could control water, and it was only during the Zhou Dynasty that the legendary figures that now precede Yu were added to the orthodox legendary lineage. According to the Chinese legend Yu the Great was a man-god.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
[[File:Yu of the Xia Dynasty.jpg|thumb|150px|Portrait of Yu, the Great]]
Archaeological evidence of a [[Jishi Gorge outburst flood|large outburst flood at Jishi Gorge]] on the Yellow River has been dated {{circa|1920&nbsp;BC}}. This coincides with new cultures all along the Yellow River. The water control problems after the initial flooding could plausibly have lasted for some twenty years. Wu and coauthors suggest that this supports the idea that the stories of Yu the Great may have originated from a historical person.<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Qinglong |first2=Zhijun |last3=Li |first3=Liu |display-authors=etal |year=2016 |title=Outburst flood at 1920 BCE supports historicity of China's Great Flood and the Xia dynasty |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=353 |issue=6299 |pages=579–582 |bibcode=2016Sci...353..579W |doi=10.1126/science.aaf0842 |pmid=27493183 |s2cid=206646492 |surname=Wu |surname2=Zhao}}</ref>{{dubious|date=August 2024}}

== Legacy ==
[[File:安平開臺天后宮水仙尊王.jpg|thumb|right|Yu and his fellow [[Shuixian Zunwang|kings of the water immortals]] in a shrine at the [[Tianhou Temple (Anping)|Tianhou Temple]] in [[Tainan]], Taiwan]]
Yu was long regarded as an ideal ruler and kind of [[philosopher king]] by the ancient Chinese. [[Beichuan]], [[Wenchuan]], and [[Dujiangyan]] in Sichuan have all [[Shifang#Claim to Yu the Great|made claims to be his birthplace]].<ref>Sichuan.scol.com.cn. "[http://sichuan.scol.com.cn/scwt/20070625/200762572739.htm Scol.com.cn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707021821/http://sichuan.scol.com.cn/scwt/20070625/200762572739.htm |date=2011-07-07 }}." {{lang|zh|发现西羌古道有关遗迹大禹故乡迷雾更浓 .}} Retrieved on 2010-09-26.</ref>

Owing to his involvement in China's mythical Great Flood, Yu also came to be regarded as a [[water deity]] in [[Taoism]] and [[Chinese folk religion]]. He is the head of the [[Shuixian Zunwang|"Five Kings of the Water Immortals"]] honored in shrines in [[Mazu temples]] as protectors of ships in transit.<ref name="grandma">{{Citation |title=Official site |year=2007 |url=http://www.tainanmazu.org.tw/ |access-date=2016-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920052348/http://www.tainanmazu.org.tw/ |archive-date=2020-09-20 |url-status=live |chapter=Shuexian Deities |chapter-url=http://www.tainanmazu.org.tw/grand_shuexian.html |place=Tainan |publisher=Grand Matsu Temple}}.</ref>

His personal name is written identically to a Chinese surname, a simplification of the minor polity of Yu ({{lang|zh|鄅國}}) in present-day [[Shandong]]. Its people carried this [[lineage name]] forward after Yu was conquered by the state of [[Lu (state)|Lu]] during the [[Spring and Autumn period]].{{cn|date=August 2024}}

== See also ==
* [[List of Chinese monarchs]]
{{commons category|Yu the Great}}
{{Portal|China|Biography}}
*[[Family tree of ancient Chinese emperors]]
* [[Yubu]]
* [[Rishu]]
* [[Wuzhiqi]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Dai |first1=Yi |author-link=Dai Yi |last2=Gong |first2=Shuduo |publisher=Intelligence Press |year=2003 |isbn=962-8792-80-6 |edition=Illust. student |script-title=zh:中國通史. 史前夏商西周 |trans-title=History of China |author-mask2=Gong Shuduo (龔書鐸) |lang=zh}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Sima |first1=Qian |author-link=Sima Qian |title=Records of the Grand Historian |last2=Sima |first2=Tan |author-link2=Sima Tan |language=lzh |script-title=zh:史記 |script-chapter=zh:燕召公世家 |ref={{sfnref|Shiji}} |chapter-url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7034 |via=Wikisource |orig-year=c. 100 BC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Hengwei |publisher=Zhonghua Book Company |year=2006 |isbn=962-8885-24-3 |script-title=zh:中國歷史講堂 |trans-title=Chinese history lectures |script-chapter=zh:遠古至春秋 |trans-chapter=Ancient times to the Spring and Autumn period |author-mask=Wang Hengwei (王恆偉) |lang=zh}}
{{Refend}}

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{{s-hou|[[Xia dynasty]]}}
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| title = [[List of Chinese monarchs|King of China]]
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| after = [[Qi of Xia|Qi]]
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{{Kings of Xia}}
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[[Category:Pre-Xia Chinese people]]
[[Category:Flood myths]]
[[Category:Legendary monarchs]]
[[Category:Asian people whose existence is disputed]]
[[Category:River regulation]]
[[Category:Kings of the Xia dynasty]]
[[Category:Founding monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:Classic of Mountains and Seas]]