Legend has it that Zhuan xù (颛) was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor and a famous tribal leader. At that time, the tribe of Emperor Huan lived in the area of Diqiu (present-day Puyang). He is intelligent and capable, and sensible. He led his people to work hard, conscientiously summed up the long-term experience of the working people in observing celestial phenomena, formulated calendars, and developed production, making his tribe the most powerful tribe at that time.
In his time, the productive forces had developed, the primitive society under the clan model had begun to gradually disintegrate, and the social model began to transform into the first class society, the slave society. Therefore, in order to establish his own ruling order and prevent the people from "committing rebellion", Zhao Xiang let a person named Zhong sacrifice the ghost god and let Li (personal name) take charge of the land and the people.
This is a major event in ancient history, because from this point on, through the worship of gods such as sacrifices, celebrations, worship, etc., began to be linked to the ruler's means of rule, that is to say, worshiping gods is not only an appearance, but through the worship of gods to control the inner spirit of the people, through a set of ritual models of sacrifice, effectively control the "loyalty" of the people.
Similarly, Li's control of the land and the people was also equivalent to the earliest and most primitive model of the leadership team, and the pattern of officials and officials and the personnel system of the imperial court from top to bottom began to take shape.
Since then, full-time clergy have become intermediaries between ordinary people and so-called ghosts and gods, responsible for conveying and interpreting the will of ghosts and gods. In this way, the new privileged classes used their theocracy to cloak themselves in the sacred cloak of oppression and exploitation of the populace. This classless primitive society was about to collapse, and the germ of the first class society, the slave society, had emerged.
The Xia are an ancient tribe that lives in the Central Plains. Their area of activity was mainly in the Yiluo River Basin in present-day western Henan. Dayu was a famous leader of the Xia clan. There are many beautiful legends about Dayu in ancient texts. There are also cultural relics and monuments related to Dayu in the Luoyang area of western Henan, reflecting dayu's merits and the nostalgia of the working people for his outstanding contributions to water control.
It is said that Yu's father was named Gun and was an important member of the council of tribal confederations headed by Yao. At that time, the flood was terrible, flooding large fields and villages, leaving only some hills and hills. Yao, according to the decision of the tribal confederation council, appointed the carp to control the flood.
As the first person in charge of flood control, Cang used the method of building embankments to block floods. Simple interception of flood control. However, the stagnant water could not be drained and still flooded. Nine years have passed, and the water has not diminished, and it is still threatening people's lives and safety.
Therefore, Yao executed Cang, and sent Yu's son Yu to cure the water.
Dayu accepted the lesson of his father's failure to control the water, the so-called blocking is not as good as dredging, Dayu used the method of evacuation to discharge floods. It is said that he opened up nine channels in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and discharged the flood water directly into the sea, and finally succeeded. Legend has it that when Da Yu ruled the water, he used Ying Long (the legendary dragon) as a mount, and Ying Long drew the ground with his tail, and where he passed, the landslides and rocks cracked, opening up mountains and opening up land, dredging the river channel.
Dayu traveled to The Mountains of Yanshi (in present-day Yanshi, Gong County, and Dengfeng County), where the water flow was blocked by the mountains. So Dayu changed into a yellow bear, struggled to split the mountains and rivers, and finally finished.
Dayu concentrated on the river, and only married the daughter of the Tushan clan at the age of thirty. Before Yu changed into a bear to open the Radium Mountain, he once told his wife: "I must come back to deliver food after hearing the sound of drums." Unexpectedly, a stone rolled down the hill and happened to land on the drum. When a drum sounded, the pregnant daughter of the Tushan clan rushed to bring food to her husband, but saw that her husband had turned into a bear, and was very ashamed, so she left Yu.
When she reached the foot of Mount Song (in present-day Dengfeng County), Dayu chased after her, and she turned to stone. Yu shouted, "Return my son!" As soon as the shout fell, the stone cracked, and Yu's son Qi was born. There is still a "Qimu Stone" at the foot of Song Mountain. There is also a legend that Yu ruled the water at Tongbai Mountain (in present-day Tongbai County, Nanyang, part of the Huai River Valley) and captured wuzhiqi, the water god of the Huai Vortex. Unsupported Qi resembles an ape, with golden eyes and white teeth, and its strength is incomparable. Yu pierced its nose with an iron cable, and then pressed it at the foot of Huaiyin Guishan Mountain to remove the harm to the locals.
These legends tortuously reflect the historical facts of Dayu's efforts to control water and benefit the people. According to the "Records of History" and other books, Yu worked day and night to control the flood, ran for thirteen years, and once passed through the door of the house three times without entering. He led the people to work hard and develop agricultural production. His life is very frugal, his housing is simple, his clothes are rough, and he is deeply loved by the people.
Therefore, the merits of water control made Dayu very prestigious, and when Shun was old, he recommended him to be the leader of the tribal alliance council, which won the unanimous support of everyone. After Yu succeeded to the throne, he made the capital Yangcheng (present-day Dengfeng Chengcheng Town) and divided the country into nine prefectures (the origin of Kyushu). According to the quality of the soil and the quality of the product, the varieties and quantities of tribute to be paid by each state are stipulated. Ten years later, he inspected the East and died in Huiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang).
In order to commemorate his great deeds, posterity has attached many monuments in Henan, Shanxi, Zhejiang and other places according to legends for people to see such as Yujing, Yu Cave, Yu Temple and so on.