Yude Legend
01 · Historical Records
The myth of Gun and Yu controlling the waters has a history of several thousand years; its main content is that Gun stole the growing earth of the emperor to dam the flood without awaiting the emperor's order, the emperor ordered Zhurong to kill Gun in the suburbs of Yu, Gun's belly gave birth to Yu, and the emperor then ordered Yu to spread earth and settle the nine provinces. Historical works record that Yu was born at Shiniu, and Shiniu mountain, Ku'er ping, Tuyu mountain and Yubei ridge abound in traces of Yu.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The myth of Gun and Yu controlling the waters has a history of several thousand years. Its main content is that Gun stole the emperor's growing earth to dam the flood without awaiting the emperor's order, the emperor ordered Zhurong to kill Gun in the suburbs of Yu, Gun's belly gave birth to Yu, and the emperor then ordered Yu to spread earth and settle the nine provinces, as in the Shanhaijing, Hai Neijing; and that when Yu was controlling the waters a divine dragon drew the ground with its tail, guiding where the water should flow, and Yu accordingly controlled what had to be opened, as in Wang Yi's commentary on the Tianwen. Among the minority peoples of China it is only among the Qiang that Yu is revered as a deity and worshipped by the whole people. Historical works record that Yu was born at Shiniu, and Shiniu mountain, Ku'er ping, Tuyu mountain and Yubei ridge abound in traces of Yu. In the records the myth of Yu says that Gun's wife Xiu Ji swallowed a divine pearl of Job's tears and gave birth to Yu, and that Yu was a man of Guangrou county in Wenshan commandery, born at Shiniu, the place called Li'er pan or Ku'er ping. In the Qiang area the water control is linked with the Qiang heavenly god Mubita, and such episodes recorded in ancient books as the responsive dragon drawing the ground with its tail and the yellow dragon trailing its tail in front are made concrete.
Reincarnation at Shiniu
One of the Yu legends current in the Qiang areas of Beichuan and Wenchuan.
Born at Ku'er Ping
One of the Yu legends current in the Qiang areas of Beichuan and Wenchuan.
The Marriage Alliance with Mount Tu
One of the Yu legends current in the Qiang areas of Beichuan and Wenchuan.
Carrying the Ridge to Guide the River
One of the Yu legends current in the Qiang areas of Beichuan and Wenchuan.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Yu legend circulates mainly in the Qiang-concentrated areas of Wenchuan county and the Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County in Sichuan; there are traces of Yu at Shiniu mountain, Ku'er ping, Tuyu mountain and Yubei ridge, and Yu is revered by the Qiang people as the protecting deity of their own people.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yude Legend · Yude Legend.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yu is revered by the Qiang people as the protecting deity of their own people and the Qiang area is regarded as the native place of the Great Yu. Through a thousand years of historical change the legend is still current in the Qiang areas of Beichuan and Wenchuan, such pieces as Shiniu Reincarnated, Born at Ku'er ping, The Birth of the Great Yu, The Legend of King Yu of Xia, The Marriage Alliance with Mount Tu, Carrying the Ridge to Guide the River and Transforming the Mountains for the Arch still circulating in the Qiang areas; in oral transmission they took on all kinds of primitive Qiang ideas and fantasies and absorbed many factors and episodes of the times. The spirit of unremitting self-improvement and hard struggle embodied in the Yu myth is a cultural spirit the Chinese nation should transmit for ever. After the 5-12 earthquake the Qiang legend of Yu was in danger of being lost, and protection work is extremely urgent. Protecting the Yu legend is of great significance for studying Qiang history and the Chinese culture of water control.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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