**[Pinyin]**
zhì fēng mù yǔ
**[Meaning]**
"Zhì" means combing hair; "mù" means washing hair. Literally, "the wind combs the hair, the rain washes the head." This idiom describes people who frequently endure hardship while tirelessly working outdoors, regardless of wind or rain.
**[Source]**
*Zhuangzi · All Under Heaven*:
"Mozi praised: 'Long ago, Yu dammed the floodwaters, diverted rivers and streams to connect the Four Barbarians and Nine Provinces. There were 300 famous mountains, 3,000 tributaries, and countless smaller streams. Yu personally wielded baskets and spades, merging the waters of all rivers. His calves grew lean, his shins became hairless, he bathed in torrential rains and combed his hair with fierce winds, and thus established ten thousand states. Yu was a great sage, yet he labored so intensely for the world.'"
**Explanation:**
Mozi praised: "In ancient times, Yu controlled the floods by channeling rivers and connecting distant regions across the land. There were 300 major rivers, 3,000 tributaries, and countless small streams. Yu personally carried baskets and dug with tools, gathering the waters from across the realm. He worked so hard that the muscles on his legs wasted away and the hair on his shins wore off. Enduring storms and gales, he ultimately brought peace to the world. Yu was a great sage, yet he endured such hardship for the sake of humanity."
**[The Story]**
In ancient times, the world was vast and wild, and people suffered greatly from flooding and seawater inundation. During Emperor Yao's reign, he sent Gun, father of Da Yu, to control the floods. Gun, however, built dikes and dams wherever floods occurred, using mainly blockage methods. As a result, the flooding only worsened over time.
When Shun succeeded Yao as leader of the tribal alliance, he repeatedly inspected the flood control efforts across the land, but the situation remained unchanged. Thus, Shun punished Gun for his failure and appointed Gun’s son, Yu, to continue the work.
When Da Yu arrived at the flooded regions, he did not immediately begin construction. Instead, he carefully studied the disaster conditions across different areas. He realized that previous attempts had failed because his predecessors, including his father, had relied solely on blocking the water. The longer they blocked, the worse the flooding became. Therefore, Yu decided to switch to a method of dredging and diversion.
After finalizing his plan, Da Yu personally led teams of workers and common people, armed with crude stone axes, knives, and shovels, to begin flood control. Based on the natural layout of mountains and rivers, he redesigned the waterways, deciding to cut through mountains and break open rocks so that floodwaters could flow from small streams into larger rivers, and eventually drain into the sea—thus solving the flooding problem.
However, while this sounded simple, execution was extremely difficult. In Yu’s time, living conditions were already harsh, and years of continuous flooding made life even more miserable. Now Yu was tasked with cutting through mountains, digging channels, and diverting floods—work of immense scale and difficulty. Tools broke one after another, clothes wore out from constant use, yet the people never gave up. They lived outdoors, ate simple meals, and labored tirelessly through wind and rain.
Yu himself worked day and night, personally digging earth and carrying baskets. Diligent and tireless, he continued even when his back ached and his legs swelled. His face darkened under the sun, his body thinned from exhaustion, the hair on his calves wore away completely, and his toenails fell off from being submerged in water for too long. Yet Yu had no time to care about such things. His mind was entirely focused on flood control—he had no concern for his appearance or his health. When it rained, he saw it as a chance to wash his hair; when the wind blew, he took it as nature combing his hair. He traveled constantly for the cause, never once complaining.
Da Yu spent thirteen years controlling the floods. Three times he passed by his own home but didn’t have time to go inside. Once, while sheltering under his own eaves during a rainstorm, he heard his wife giving birth. Everyone urged him to go in and see her, but fearing it would disrupt the project, he steeled his heart and left to continue fighting the floods. In this way, he devoted his entire being to the monumental task of carving mountains and digging rivers to tame the floods.
Through relentless effort, Da Yu finally led the people in dredging the riverways. The floods ceased their destruction, flowing obediently into the ocean.
Later, people derived the idiom "braving wind and rain" (*zhì fēng mù yǔ*) from the historical account of Yu’s efforts—"bathed in heavy rain, combed his hair with strong wind"—to describe enduring hardship and persevering through adversity.