To the southeast of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, lies the sequestered and elegant Kuaiji Mountain which is covered with lush ancient pagoda trees and green pines and bamboos. A stele pavilion stands on top of the mountain. On it is written “Da Yu Ling (Mausoleum of Yu The Great)”, in the handwriting of Nan Daji of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). According to textual research, this marks the spot of the tomb of Yu the Great famed in legend for harnessing the waters of the flood in remote antiquity.
According to ancient literature, during
the reign of King Yao about 4,000 years ago, an immense flood inundated the lands drained by the Yellow River. The crops were submerged and the houses destroyed by the flood. Facing this vast catastrophe, the people, carrying on their shoulders the young and the old, escaped to the mountains or climbed to the top of big trees. However, they then found it very difficult to find any food, so they starved and sometimes froze to death before long. Some ate bark and edible wild herbs to stay alive but there was not nearly enough of this food for everyone. In addition, many snakes and ferocious wild animals had also escaped to the mountains and they killed many of the people for food. People died in large numbers.
To deal with the catastrophe of the flood and to try to protect agricultural production, King Yao held a meeting of all his courtiers and advisers to discuss the issue. In the beginning, the tribal leaders, looking at each
other, could think of no viable solutions.
A leader called “Wu Yue” made mention of a person he knew named Gun, who he said was accomplished in controlling flood waters. He recommended him to King Yao. However, King Yao maintained silence as if he didn’t trust too much in Gun’s abilities. But then, other leaders also recommended Gun, saying “There is no better person than Gun to deal with this situation. Your Majesty would be well advised to let him have a try!” Since there seemed few other options, , King Yao agreed.
After receiving word of his mission, Gun immediately embarked on the work of flood control. However, after nine years, his efforts to subdue the flood proved unsuccessful. He could only build up the river banks and erect dams in order to block up the flood, but the banks and dams invariably collapsed in time and the flood disaster became even more serious.
After King Yao died, Shun became the new chieftain of the tribal alliance. When he carried out his inspection of the flood control work, he realised quickly that Gun really had no idea how to control the flood waters and was constantly delaying and prevaricating. Consequently the new King had Gun put to death on Yushan Mountain. The leaders of the tribal alliance then recommended Yu, Gun’s son, as the man who could succeed where his father had failed and control the periodic flooding of the Yellow River. Yu was a wise and capable man. When he was given the task, he had just married a girl near his home on Tushan Mountain. The selfless Yu, seeing the suffering that the people suffered from floods, thought carefully about his onerous mission. Resolutely and determinedly he bade farewell to his wife and made his way to the place where efforts were being made to do something about the destructive flood waters.
Yu invited the elders who had worked on the project before with his father, Gun to sum up the reason for all past failures and to look for a radical new method for subduing the flood. One of the people there observed, “The flood comes into being because the waters of the river surges with such great force and it has nowhere else it can flow to.” Another suggested, “It seems that water flows downhill. If we can figure out the height of the surrounding topography, we can dig water channels along to divert water from the river. Then the problem will hopefully be solved.” Yu was very impressed with these ideas. Immediately he began to outline for everyone a very practical and feasible scheme: on the one hand, focus on reinforcing defences and continue to build embankments; on the other hand, change his father’s method of controlling the flood using banks and dams and adopt the method of building channels along the course of the river to drain away water and also to dredge parts of the river so as to allow the floodwaters to flow harmlessly to the sea.
After explaining his scheme, Yu led a team of over 200,000 people as they sought to implement his plans. It was extremely hard and bitter work dredging the river. Besides overseeing the project, Yu was never afraid to get his hands dirty and do some work himself in order to set a good example for the people. With his wooden spade, he worked night and day despite the wind and rain, even forgetting sometimes to eat and sleep. Due to his hard work, his hands became covered in calluses. Since his work often involved him being immersed in water for long periods, his toenails fell off.
