The Great Flood of China (Chinese: 大洪水; pinyin: Dà Hóngshuǐ, or just 洪水), traditionally dated to the Third Millennium, BCE, during the reign of the Emperor Yao, according to historical sources, was a major flood event that continued for many years, resulting in great population displacements and in association with various related disasters, such as storms and famine. The Great Flood of China has been treated both historically as well as mythologically. Either way, or both, it is a narrative foundational 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, is one of the main flood motifs in Chinese mythology, and is a major source of allusion in Classical Chinese poetry.
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Chinese history as a continuously recorded literary tradition begins with the ancient documents transmitted to posterity through the Records of the Grand Historian, of Sima Qian, which begin this narrative with the reign of the Yellow Emperor,[1] and incorporate two discourses by Confucius.[2] According to these, the great-grandson (or fourth successor) of the Yellow Emperor was Yao. Beginning with the reign of Yao, additional literary sources become available, including the Book of History (collected and edited by Confucius),which begins with the "Canon of Yao", describing the events of Yao's reign.[3] It was during Yao's reign 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 Yangzi valleys flooded.[4] The alleged nature of the flood is shown in the following quote:
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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! |
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According to the historical 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, Four Mountains (四嶽 or 四岳, Sìyuè). Upon the insistence of Four Mountains, and over Yao's initial hesitation, the person appointed to control the flood was Gun, the Prince of Chong, who was a distant relative of Yao's through common descent from the Yellow Emperor.[4] Nine years later, despite the efforts of Gun, the flood continued to rage on, leading to all sorts of social disorders, with the administration of the empire becoming increasingly difficult; accordingly, at this point, Yao offered to resign the throne in favor of 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.[6] Yao proceeded to put Shun through a series of tests, beginning with wiving Shun with his two daughters and ending by sending him down from the mountains to the plains below where he had to face fierce winds, thunder, and rain.[7] After passing all of Yao's tests, Shun took on administrative responsibilities as co-emperor.[8] 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 re-organize 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. Despite the additional four years, Gun still had failed to achieve success.
The story of the Great Flood plays a dramatic role in Chinese mythology. Actually, there are a number of flood narratives in Chinese mythology, which while somewhat lacking in internal consistency and as well incorporating various magical transformations and including the interventions of various divine or semi-divine beings, nevertheless share certain common features.[9] As opposed to myths involving the flooding of specific rivers[10] or Ma Gu and the periodic alteration of sea and mulberry orchards; as a whole, it seems that the myths centered around the Great Flood share certain similar outlooks, such as a certain emphasis on the flood being from natural causes, rather than the result of "universal punishment for human sin".[11] Another common feature seems to be the alleviation of the flooding by constructing dikes and dams, digging canals, together with widening or deepening existing channels, as well as teaching these skills to others, as in the cases of Nüwa, Gun, and Yu the Great.[11]