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Did China's mythical flood actually happen ?


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[[[[   Quote:   The story tells of how he was aided by a dragon which dug out vast channels in the ground and a large turtle which hauled tons of mud. Yu's success lead to the founding of China's Xia dynasty.    ]]]]-

Emperor Yu had an excavator and dump truck?

 

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Here ...

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During the reign of king Yao, the Chinese heartland was frequently plagued by floods that prevented further economic and social development.[15] Yu's father, Gun, was tasked with devising a system to control the flooding. He spent more than nine years building a series of dikes and dams along the riverbanks, but all of this was ineffective, despite (or because of) the great number and size of these dikes and the use of a special self-expanding soil. As an adult, Yu continued his father's work and made a careful study of the river systems in an attempt to learn why his father's great efforts had failed.

Collaborating with Houji, a semi-mythical agricultural master about whom little is concretely known, Yu successfully devised a system of flood controls that were crucial in establishing the prosperity of the Chinese heartland. Instead of directly damming the rivers' flow, Yu made a system of irrigation canals which relieved floodwater into fields, as well as spending great effort dredging the riverbeds.[9] Yu is said to have eaten and slept with the common workers and spent most of his time personally assisting the work of dredging the silty beds of the rivers for the thirteen years the projects took to complete. The dredging and irrigation were successful, and allowed ancient Chinese culture to flourish along the Yellow River, Wei River, and other waterways of the Chinese heartland. The project earned Yu renown throughout Chinese history, and is referred to in Chinese history as "Great Yu Controls the Waters" (Chinese: 大禹治水; pinyin: Dà Yǔ Zhì Shuǐ). In particular, Mount Longmen along the Yellow River had a very narrow channel which blocked water from flowing freely east toward the ocean. Yu is said to have brought a large number of workers to open up this channel, which has been known ever since as "Yu's Gateway" (Chinese: 禹門口).[9]

However recent archaeological and geological discoveries seem to confirm story of the Great Flood.[16]

 

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Geologic Evidence May Support Chinese Flood Legend

 

A deluge that washed down the Yellow River nearly 4,000 years ago could be linked to the founding of China’s semi-mythical first dynasty.

 

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As I said before, most legends are born in a truth of some kind.

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On 8/6/2016 at 2:01 AM, Leto_loves_melange said:

 

[[[[   Quote:   The story tells of how he was aided by a dragon which dug out vast channels in the ground and a large turtle which hauled tons of mud. Yu's success lead to the founding of China's Xia dynasty.    ]]]]-

Emperor Yu had an excavator and dump truck?

 

I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps he did, of course not powered by engines, but perhaps simple machines consisting of levers, wheels etc and powered by human muscle power and horses. Ancient people were quite smart.

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Doesn't sound as awesome as myth-tellers portray ancient flood stories. Myth-tellers usually say that the water reached mountain peaks and turned them into islands. Perhaps the western flood myths are of a similar cause, not a global phenomenon. Story tellers tend to embellish the truth, especially in the ancient world.

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On 7 August 2016 at 4:20 PM, fred_mc said:

I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps he did, of course not powered by engines, but perhaps simple machines consisting of levers, wheels etc and powered by human muscle power and horses. Ancient people were quite smart.

...the fact that the legend is practical in its approach to solving a problem shows to me at least that the ancient Chinese mind was grounded in logic. One animal to specialise in digging and the other to remove the waste. 

Edited by Leto_loves_melange
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