Yu the Great: The King Born From His Father's Body

Shun Grows Old, and the Position Must Be Passed On Again

In the last episode, Yao hands power to Shun.

It sounds like the most elegant succession in all of high antiquity.

But Shun too grows old.

And when he does, the same question stands before him again: who should receive the position next?

At that exact moment, flood becomes the greatest problem in the world.

When the Yellow River spills over, fields disappear, villages disappear, and people disappear with them. Whoever can bring the waters under control is no ordinary capable man.

He is a man who can save lives.

That is how Yu steps onto the stage.

Gun Goes First, and Makes the Disaster Worse

Yu's father is named Gun.

Before Yu ever takes part, Gun is sent out first to control the flood.

His method is direct.

Block it.

If the water breaks through, build dikes.

If it spreads, raise walls.

In modern language, he is trying to stop the flood head-on by force.

The problem is simple. Ancient tools are crude, and the embankments they build are weak. When the water level rises, the walls cannot hold. And once they break, the flooding becomes even worse.

Gun works for three years.

The water is not controlled.

The losses only grow greater.

In the end, Yao becomes furious and orders the fire god Zhurong to kill Gun.

The place is said to be somewhere in what is now Shandong.

After Gun dies, his body is cast aside without a proper burial.

At this point, an ordinary story should end.

But this one does not.

Three Years After His Father's Death, Yu Bursts Out of the Body

Three years pass after Gun's death, and his body does not decay.

More strangely still, his belly grows larger and larger.

People sense that something is wrong, so they cut it open.

Out jumps a child.

That child is Yu.

The scene is obviously strange, strange enough that it seems designed to force the audience to remember one thing: Yu does not enter the world by any ordinary path.

But the most important part of the episode is not only how he is born.

It is what he takes over after his birth.

The unfinished task his father could not complete.

Flood control.

Yu Takes Over His Father's Failed Work

By the time Shun is ruling, Yu is sent to continue the work of controlling the flood.

The first thing he understands is this:

his father's method of blocking the water cannot be used again.

Water is not an enemy that can be cornered forever.

It wants to move downhill.

It wants to move toward the sea.

The harder you block it, the more likely it is to gather into a greater disaster.

So Yu changes the method completely.

He does not block.

He channels.

If a river course must be opened, he opens it.

If the terrain must be surveyed, he surveys it.

If a mountain blocks the water's path, he looks for a way to cut through it.

From that point on, flood control is no longer a matter of building a few walls. It becomes an enormous project requiring manpower from across the realm.

Yu leads people over mountains and through rivers, studying sources, reading the land, and guiding the waters section by section toward the sea.

Near Luoyang, the Mountain Has to Be Cut Open

In the course of the work, Yu comes to the region of the Yi and Luo rivers near present-day Luoyang.

There a high mountain blocks the water's route. The rivers cannot pass, so they circle nearby and overflow.

If the water is to move smoothly, the mountain has to be opened.

Yu does not stand at a distance and merely issue orders.

He works with the people himself.

The tools of wood and stone are clumsy. The mountain is hard. Men can only split and chisel bit by bit.

Over time, their hands and feet grow thick with calluses. Their feet remain soaked in water year after year, and their bodies wear down under the strain.

But in the end, the opening is made.

The river finally has a path, and the flood is slowly brought under control.

Three Times He Passes His Home Without Entering

When Yu is fighting the flood, he has only recently married a woman of the Tushan clan.

Not long after the wedding, he leaves home for the work.

Later he passes by his own house.

The first time, his child has just been born, and his wife is waiting with the baby in her arms.

He does not go in.

The second time, the child can already walk and call for his father.

He still does not go in.

The third time, the child is older still, and Yu simply lets the boy follow him out to the flood works.

Later tradition summarizes all of this in one famous phrase: three times he passes his own door without entering.

Different texts give different numbers for how many years he spends controlling the flood. Some say eight. Some say thirteen. The exact number may vary, but the story's meaning is unmistakable.

This is a long, crushing task, one that swallows almost all of personal life.

Through it, Yu slowly builds his reputation.

In the End, the Whole Realm Follows Yu's Orders

Flood control is not something one man can solve by working alone.

Who will provide labor?

Who will provide grain?

Where will dikes be repaired?

Where will channels be opened?

Who will hold the dangerous crossings?

All of this must be arranged.

In order to control the waters, Yu divides the realm into the Nine Provinces.

Each region takes responsibility for its own area, and whenever disaster strikes, someone is already assigned to bear it.

This is a crucial step.

On the surface, Yu is controlling the flood.

In reality, he is already able to mobilize labor and resources across the realm.

Different regions follow his orders. Many tribes begin to turn around a single shared goal.

A man controlling water slowly becomes a man who can command the world.

So when Shun begins to think about succession in his old age, Yu is no longer an ordinary candidate.

He has the great merit of controlling the flood, and he has the prestige of wide submission.

Shun's own son Shangjun is also among the candidates, but the people of the realm recognize Yu more readily.

In the end, Yu becomes the new leader of the tribal alliance.

At the Tushan Assembly, Yu's Authority Hardens

Once Yu takes the position, he tours the different regions.

Wherever he goes, he establishes laws and appoints officials.

His authority spreads outward with every step.

The more important scene, however, is the assembly at Tushan.

The Tushan clan is the maternal family of Yu's wife and a powerful force in the east. With their support behind him, Yu summons the leaders of the tribes to gather at Tushan.

They come to court in ceremonial dress, holding jade objects, waiting for Yu to speak.

This no longer looks like an ordinary alliance meeting.

It looks much more like a later royal court assembly.

But one leader refuses to submit fully.

Fangfeng arrives late.

This is not mere delay on the road.

It carries the meaning of defiance.

Yu orders him executed.

At that point, everyone understands the change.

Yu's commands are no longer advice that one may choose to follow.

If you refuse them, there will be a price.

From this step onward, Yu looks more and more like a true king.

After Yu Dies, Qi Steps Forward

Yu never states with complete clarity who should inherit after him.

Later, while touring the realm, he reaches Kuaiji in what is now Shaoxing in Zhejiang and falls gravely ill.

There he dies.

The question arrives immediately.

Who takes his place?

At that moment, Yu's son Qi steps forward.

His meaning is direct:

this was my father's place, so I will inherit it.

And with that, the rule changes.

Yao gives to Shun.

Shun gives to Yu.

That is abdication.

But at Qi, the position begins to pass downward through father and son.

Qi establishes the polity of the Xia Hou clan, abbreviated simply as Xia.

Yu is retroactively regarded as the first generation, and Qi becomes the second.

From this moment on, the world held in common begins to turn into a world held by one family.

The story of China's first dynasty opens its door here.

Continue Reading

Qi takes his father's place, and the rule of Xia is established.

But a new problem appears at once.

Yu has the great merit of flood control.

Does Qi have anything like it?

In the next episode, we will see why the Xia order begins to wobble almost as soon as it starts.