Yao, Shun, and Yu are three famous emperors from China's remote antiquity. In reality, during that time they were more accurately leaders of tribal alliances. With no written language in ancient times, history was preserved solely through oral tradition. In folk legends and in the hearts of the people, Yao, Shun, and Yu are all regarded as wise and enlightened rulers.
The grandfather of Yao was the Yellow Emperor. Yao ascended the throne at the age of 16. He was exceptionally skilled in governing the realm, ensuring peace and stability throughout the land and enabling the people to live and work in contentment. He ruled the nation for approximately 100 years and passed away at the age of over 110. Before his death, following recommendations from the people and after rigorous personal evaluation, he selected Shun—a man of humble origins but of great virtue and talent—as his successor, and even married his two daughters, Ehuang and Nüying, to Shun.
Shun, also known as Kuishun, had the family name Yao and personal name Chonghua. He was from the area known today as Hebei Province, which was then called Jizhou. Shun's mother died when he was very young, and his father was blind, a man the villagers called "the blind old man." Shun's stepmother bore a son named Xiang, who was Shun's half-brother. The blind father was unkind, and Xiang was even more cruel and ruthless, frequently plotting to harm Shun. Yet Shun remained filial to his father and stepmother and treated his brother Xiang with kindness and compassion.
After Shun ascended the throne, his half-brother Xiang became fearful. One day, he proactively knelt before Shun, begging his elder brother to punish him. Shun helped Xiang up and said, "Let's not speak of the past. As long as you reform yourself from now on, that will be enough."
Although Shun had become the Son of Heaven, he still treated his father with the same respectful reverence as he had when he was an ordinary commoner. The blind old man, filled with shame, said to Shun, "Son, I treated you unjustly in the past. Please forgive this blind man."
During Shun's reign, a great flood disaster struck the country. The Central Plains region, especially the areas along both banks of the Yellow River, turned into a vast expanse of water. The people were forced to abandon their cultivated lands and fled to high mountains and wilderness, subsisting on wild vegetables and fruits.
As early as the time of Emperor Yao, a flood-control official named Gun (gǔn) had been appointed. Gun was a highly dedicated official who led laborers to build dams using earth and stones, enclosing the floodwaters. As the water level rose, Gun continued to heighten and reinforce the embankments, so the dams grew taller, wider, and longer. Thus, the flood was temporarily brought under control.
When Shun succeeded Yao and ascended the throne, he summoned Gun and issued a warning: "The flood is like a ferocious beast. Right now, you have only locked the beast in a cage; you haven't destroyed it. This is an endless source of future trouble. As the saying goes, a cornered beast will still fight—it will eventually break out of the cage and bring disaster to the nation."
Enclosing the flood with dams was the flood-control method passed down from ancestors. Besides inheriting this tradition and employing the old method, Gun simply could not think of any better alternative.
After hearing Shun's warning, Gun again led people to heighten and reinforce the embankments. After nine full years of day-and-night struggle, only when all the dams were reinforced and completed did he finally breathe a sigh of relief, saying, "Even if the water level rises another five chi (about 1.7 meters), my dams can still withstand it." At the same time, he made a solemn pledge to Shun: If his dams failed and endangered the lives and property of the people, he would willingly sacrifice his life to take responsibility!
In the very year Gun made this pledge, it seemed as if the heavens had been pierced open. Torrential rains poured down continuously for over three months. The dams Gun had built over nine years were completely washed away and destroyed by the floodwaters. The ferocious beast truly broke out of its cage, raging and roaring, rampaging肆意横虐, devouring lives and property. Fields were submerged, houses collapsed, and people died in the floods, their bodies swallowed by fish.
In this flood, children died in the greatest numbers, and the entire nation faced the danger of extinction. The survivors were stranded on several small highlands, crowded together with little food, followed by outbreaks of plague, in which more than half of the adult men and women perished.
At this point, Gun proactively said to Shun, "Please execute me; otherwise, I cannot face the surviving elders and brothers."
Shun accepted Gun's request and, shedding tears, executed Gun.
The flood-control official Gun was executed, but the flood still needed to be controlled. Who should be appointed as the new flood-control official? Someone recommended to Shun: "Gun's son Yu followed his father in flood control from a young age, is familiar with water conditions, has summarized his father's experiences, and learned from his father's mistakes. He is a very suitable candidate."
Shun felt somewhat hesitant. Yu's father Gun had been executed due to failure in flood control. Now, asking Yu to continue his father's unfinished work, would Yu accept this appointment?
The recommender said, "Yu is a stubborn, righteous, and responsible young man. He will accept the appointment."
When Yu received the news of his appointment, he had only been married for four or five days. His newly-wed wife said to him, "I won't let you go. Your father died in flood control; you cannot continue down this path. Death should be shared by all, not borne solely by our family."
Yu replied to his wife, "The flood has taken countless lives. By comparison, our family has lost the fewest. My father died in flood control; I should inherit his work, subdue the flood, and comfort my deceased father. If I shrink back, what meaning would life have? Even my deceased father would be ashamed of my cowardice. Furthermore, the more dangerous the path, the less I can let others walk it. I have followed my father in flood control since childhood and have explored this path; I am better positioned than anyone to overcome death and achieve victory!"
The day after receiving his appointment, Yu reported to Shun and happily accepted the position of flood-control official.
The very next day after Yu accepted the appointment, Yu's mother went to Shun to plead: "For flood control, I have already sacrificed my husband; now you want this son too. Please leave him to me! He has only been married for six days."
Shun said to Yu's mother, "Elderly lady, your request is reasonable, and I understand your feelings. But who in the country is more suitable to be the flood-control official than Yu? As long as you can recommend someone, I will certainly consider it..."
Yu's mother thought for a moment, sighed, and said, "Your Majesty, for the cause of flood control, it seems I can only sacrifice my son again. From now on, I have nothing more to offer..." Yu's mother burst into loud sobs after speaking.
Shun took Yu's mother's hand and said, "It won't come to that, elder. I believe Yu will certainly subdue the flood with his wisdom and hard work. In several years, you and I will jointly celebrate his victory."
After the newly appointed flood-control official Yu took office, he did not immediately start flood control work. Instead, he worked with others to summarize past lessons and find the reasons for his father's failure in flood control.
Building dams to enclose water still had its rationality; otherwise, people throughout the ages would not have used this method generation after generation. Only by enclosing the floodwaters could the people rest, recuperate, and live in peace in areas without water. However, enclosing floodwaters also harbored the greatest hidden danger—the more water accumulated, the more power was stored for the water, and once it broke through the dams, the disaster inflicted on the people would be even more severe.
Yu pondered: Could we find a way to weaken the power of the flood?
One of Yu's subordinates said, "The flood has submerged entire mountain peaks. Unless it recedes, its power cannot be weakened. But how can it recede? Where can we send it?"
Another person said, "Such a massive flood can only be accommodated by the ocean; there is no other place."
This remark reminded Yu, who happily exclaimed, "Yes, the ocean! Let's start dredging channels to divert the floodwaters into the ocean."
But how should the channels be routed? Where exactly was the ocean? These questions, like the flood before their eyes, were elusive and hard to grasp.
At this moment, Yu recalled the ancient saying, "Water flows to lower ground." As long as they could survey the elevation of the land, they could determine the direction of the channels.
Yu's courage boosted everyone's confidence. With collective wisdom and effort, they formulated a flood-control plan in a very short time. This plan had two steps: First, repair and reinforce the dams to enclose the floodwaters, allowing displaced refugees to return and urgently cultivate land in areas without water, thus stabilizing public sentiment. Second, survey the terrain and excavate channels to divert the floodwaters into the ocean.
Although the plan was divided into two steps, implementation needed to proceed simultaneously. Reinforcing the dams, a traditional project, was delegated to an assistant, while Yu himself led a team to survey the terrain.
Yu and his companions worked day and night, braving wind and rain, crossing wild mountains and rugged terrain, navigating swift rapids and dangerous shoals, fighting fierce wild beasts, and surviving on wild fruits and vegetables. It took them several years to survey the elevation of the land across the entire country. Following this, large-scale flood-control projects began.
Yu divided the national flood-control teams into nine groups, each assigned a dedicated leader, while he served as the overall commander.
Although Yu was the overall commander of flood control, he always appeared at the most arduous and dangerous construction sites, leading by example in labor. He often fainted from overwork in the water, only to be rescued by his companions. Long-term immersion in water caused his entire body to ulcerate. The people were moved to tears and knelt, begging him to rest. Yu helped them up and said, "My father died in flood control; my current life is also lived for flood control. I appreciate your kindness; thank you all."
During the flood-control process, Yu passed by his own home three times, but never once entered to see his family.
The first time Yu passed by his home, he was rushing to a construction site to solve a difficult problem. By then, he had been away from home for nine months. As he walked past his door, he heard the cry of a baby from inside the house. Calculating the time, he realized it was the birth of his first child.
At the time, the people accompanying Yu also urged him to go home and take a look. Yu told them, "Over 200,000 people are participating in flood control; who among them isn't away from home and family, leaving behind a beloved wife and children? As the overall commander, if I cannot put public duty before personal interest, how can I have the face to make demands of over 200,000 flood-control workers?"
The second time Yu passed his home, his wife stood at the door holding their son. His wife waved the child's hand and urged him to call out, "Say 'Daddy,' quickly say 'Daddy'!" The shy child didn't call out. Yu merely waved to his wife and son, and his figure quickly disappeared into the rising dust.
The third time Yu passed his home, his son was already ten years old. The boy stood on the road and told Yu, "Mom is sick." Yu patted his son's head and said, "You are already grown up; take good care of Mom." With that, he turned and left.
The flood-control project progressed faster than planned. Nine main channels had been opened, and the stored water in several dams had already flowed into the ocean through the channels. Now, Yu was leading everyone in excavating branch channels to drain the accumulated water from the fields.
Immediately after the flood receded, when the land was still not suitable for cultivation, Yu dispatched his assistants to lead people up the mountains to hunt wild animals and into rivers to fish, helping them survive the disaster. At the same time, Yu appointed agricultural experts to teach farming techniques to the people, planting mulberry and hemp and sowing grain seeds on the land where the flood had receded. After several years, mulberry and hemp covered the land, and the grain fields were fragrant with harvest.
Yu spent a total of 13 years on flood control. From a young, handsome youth, the hard work left him with a face full of wrinkles, stooped and hunched, resembling an old man. The people, grateful to him, called him "Da Yu" (Great Yu).
After Da Yu subdued the flood, Emperor Shun sent for Yu's mother and said to her, "Elderly lady, thank you for giving the nation such a fine son. Now I wish to discuss something with you: I want to abdicate the imperial throne to Da Yu."
Da Yu's mother said, "That is absolutely impossible! Letting him sit on the imperial throne would surely kill him."
Shun said, "I myself came from humble origins, and Da Yu is far superior to me. Elderly lady, when I appointed Da Yu to control the flood, you also said he was unsuitable. The facts proved you wrong. This time, please trust me again."
Da Yu's mother said, "I am but a woman, what do I know? You are the ruler of the nation; of course, you have the final say..."
After Da Yu was selected by Shun as heir to the throne, he initially assisted Shun in managing state affairs. Seventeen years later, Shun passed away, and Yu formally ascended the throne. This marked the beginning of the Xia Dynasty in Chinese history.
Da Yu was the first emperor of the Xia Dynasty.