In the ancient era of Emperor Yao, the Yellow River Basin suffered unprecedented floods, with crops submerged, houses collapsing, and people forced to migrate to higher places. At the same time, they had to face the threat of venomous snakes and beasts, and their lives were unbearable. Emperor Yao was deeply concerned and convened a meeting of the tribal alliance to jointly explore effective strategies for flood control. On the recommendation of numerous tribal leaders, despite his doubts, Emperor Yao ultimately decided to send the Qiang to undertake this arduous task.
However, despite nine years of water management, the situation could not be reversed. Instead, due to improper methods – relying solely on building embankments to block water – the floods became even more rampant. After Emperor Shun ascended the throne, he personally went to the front line of water control to investigate and found that the water control strategy of Gun was ineffective. Therefore, he dealt with it according to law and decided to let Gun’s son Yu take over the important task of water control.
Yu learned from his father’s lesson, innovated his approach to water management, and adopted the strategy of excavating canals and dredging rivers to guide floods back to the sea. He took the lead and fought side by side with the people. Wearing a bamboo hat and holding a shovel, he painstakingly dug earth and picked stones. The hair on his shins was polished, showing extraordinary leadership and perseverance.
After thirteen years of spring and autumn, Yu finally succeeded in introducing floods into the sea, revitalizing the earth and allowing farmland to be restored. During the process of flood control, although Yu had recently married, he was concerned about the well-being of the people and passed by his house multiple times without entering. Even the birth of his own son Qi did not stop him from moving forward.
Faced with the obstruction of Longmen Mountain in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Yu personally surveyed the terrain and organized manpower to excavate, ultimately allowing the river to flow smoothly eastward and completely solving the problem of flooding. Yu’s achievements have been widely praised by later generations and hailed as the “Great Yu”, becoming a symbol of heroes in flood control.
In his later years, Emperor Shun also faced the problem of finding an heir. Given Yu’s outstanding achievements in flood control, high prestige, and high expectations, he ultimately inherited the position of leader of the tribal alliance. At this time, society had entered the late stage of clan communes, and the development of productive forces gave birth to the emergence of private ownership. Clan nobles began to accumulate wealth, the system of slavery gradually took shape, and clan communes gradually disintegrated.
In his later years, Yu’s authority and power reached their peak, not only patrolling the four directions, but also holding a grand gathering of tribal leaders on Mount Kuaiji. However, Yu’s later years also revealed signals of the strengthening of royal power, such as the execution of the Fengfeng clan due to their tardiness, demonstrating the absolute and inviolable nature of royal power. In addition, Yu originally intended to abdicate to his assistant Boyi according to the abdication system, but in the end, his son Qi inherited the throne, marking the establishment of the hereditary system and the birth of the Xia Dynasty – the first slave state in Chinese history.
