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Yu the Great

だいう

Si Yu

Aliases: Da Yu / Ta Yu / Dà Yǔ

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
Mount Wen (Beichuan County, Sichuan) or Shifang (Sichuan), China (traditional attributions)
Died
Mount Kuaiji (near present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China)
Nationality
Ancient China
Languages
Old Chinese (reconstructed / traditional)
Religion
Taoism / Chinese folk religion (deified in later tradition)
Residence History
Slopes of Mount Song (traditional) → Anyi (traditional capital; near modern Xia County, Shanxi) → Kuaiji (traditionally where he died; modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang)

Career

Occupations
Legendary king, Flood-control engineer (legendary), Deified water deity (later tradition)
Influenced By
Gun (father, legendary), Hou Ji (semi-legendary agricultural master), Yellow Emperor (ancestral figure in tradition)
Influenced
Later dynastic rulerships and hydraulic policy (traditional model), Confucian ideal of the virtuous ruler (celebrated in texts like the Shiji), Folk religion and water-deity cults (temples and rituals)

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Yu Gong

Geography/administrative treatise (ancient textual chapter, attributed)

A chapter preserved in the Book of Documents traditionally attributed to Yu; discusses flood control, the division of nine provinces and related governance—mixes historical tradition and myth.

Flood controlRegional divisionLegitimization of rulership
Adaptations
  • [Painting (Song-era depiction)] Portrait of Yu by Ma Lin / Ma Lin（馬麟、画家としての作例） (1200)

Bibliography

  • 'Yu Gong' (chapter in the Book of Documents) and related transmitted texts (attributed)
  • Records in the Shiji (e.g. Annals of Xia) and other historiographical sources

Adaptations

  • Depictions and cult practices (temple statues, paintings, ritual portrayals)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Narrative and anecdotal legendary styleChronicle-like blending of history and myth
Recurring Motifs
Control of water and floodsSelf-sacrifice and hard work (e.g. passing home three times without entering)Division of the nine provinces and governance

Health

  • Died of illness (legendary account)
    晩年（在位末期、伝承）
    Tradition holds he died of illness late in life; succession passed to his son Qi in the narratives.

Legacy

Yu the Great is revered as an archetypal ruler and flood-control hero in ancient Chinese tradition. Through historiography, legend and folk religion he became a symbol of legitimized rulership and hydraulic mastery; later venerated as a water deity with temples and memorials across China.

Museums

  • Yu Mausoleum (Dà Yǔ Mausoleum) Near Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China (traditional site of Kuaiji / Yu Mausoleum) Opened in 500

Archives

  • National Palace Museum (Taipei) — holds Song-era and later depictions and related archival materials

In Popular Culture

  • Local Yu temples, rituals and commemorations celebrating his role as a flood-control hero
  • Toponyms and artifacts bearing Yu's name or legend
  • Invoked as a model ruler in educational and political rhetoric

Quotes

  • Yu passed by his own family's doorstep three times without entering (he prioritized flood relief over family).
    Source: Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) and traditional accounts

Trivia

  • Tradition credits Yu with 13 years of flood-control work.
  • Yu's mausoleum at Kuaiji (Shaoxing) has been rebuilt many times since the Northern and Southern period.
  • Some modern scholars have suggested Yu may represent a deified water figure rather than a strictly historical person.