The first water control hero of the Chinese nation
Overview
Chinese Name: 大禹
English Name: Dayu
Other Names: Si Wenming姒文命（Real Name）, Yu禹, Yu King禹王, Shen Yu神禹, Xia Yu夏禹
Born: About the 21st Century BCE
Died: About the 21st Century BCE
Achievements: King Yu Combating the Flood大禹治水, Establish the Xia Dynasty建立夏朝
Brief Biography of Dayu
Dayu, surnamed Si (姒), took the Xia Hou family（夏后氏） name Wenming（文命）. In ancient times, he was the leader of the Xia Hou family, the founding king of the Xia Dynasty, and a famous historical flood control figure. He was known as Dayu（大禹）, Diyu（帝禹） and Shenyu（神禹） in history. He is the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor（Huangdi 黄帝）, the descendant of Zhuan Xu（颛顼）, and the son of Gun（鲧）. His mother is Xiuji（修己）, the daughter of Youxin Family（有莘氏）.
It is said that Dayu made meritorious contributions to flood control, accepted the surrender of Emperor Shun（舜） and inherited the tribal leader. After the official accession to the throne, Yangcheng was the capital and the country name was Xia（夏）.
As the first emperor of the Xia Dynasty, later generations called Xia Yu(夏禹), who became a sage emperor comparable to Fuxi（伏羲） and the Yellow Emperor in the legendary era of ancient times. The most outstanding achievement is that it has always been praised for controlling torrential floods and establishing the Xia Dynasty. Then later generations call him Dayu.
After Yu died, he was buried in Kuaiji mountain (now Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province), where Yu Miao（禹庙）, Yu Mausoleum（禹陵）, and Yu Temple（禹祠） still exist. Since Xia Qi, emperors of all dynasties have come to Yu Mausoleum to offer sacrifices.
The Story of Dayu Combating the Flood大禹治水
In ancient times, when the Yellow River flooded, Dayu and his father were ordered by emperors Yao and Shun to control the water.
Dayu took the yardstick in his left hand and the rules in his right hand. He measured wherever he went. He learned the lesson of his father’s water control by blocking and invented a new method of dredging and water control. The key point is to dredge the waterway so that the water can flow smoothly eastward into the sea. Whenever Dayu found that a place needed governance, he went to various tribes to mobilize the masses for construction. Whenever the water conservancy project began, he worked with the people, ate on the construction site, slept on the construction site, dug mountains and stones, and worked hard.
He lived a simple life, lived in a short thatched house, and ate worse than ordinary people. However, he is the most willing to spend money on water conservancy projects. Whenever there is a lack of money to deal with a flood, he will fight for it himself.
It took Dayu 13 years to control the flood. It was under his hands that the roaring river lost its ferocity in the past, tamed, and slowly flowed eastward. The mountains that were flooded in the past showed their towering features, the farmland became a rice granary, and the people were able to build houses and live happy and prosperous life.
Why did Dayu Pass the home three times but didn’t enter?三过家门而不入
It is said that Dayu left his wife and embarked on the road of water control shortly after his marriage. Later, in the process of water control, he passed his house three times, but he didn’t enter. because he was afraid of delaying the process of water control.
When he passed the house for the first time, he heard his wife moaning because of childbirth and the baby crying. The assistant advised him to go in and have a look. He didn’t go in for fear of delaying the water treatment;
The second time he passed the house, his son was waving to him in his wife’s arms. This was the time when the project was tense. He just waved hello and walked over;
When he passed the house for the third time, his son had grown to more than 10 years old. He ran over and pulled him home. Dayu fondly stroked his son’s head and told him that the water had not been cured and that he had no time to go home. He left in a hurry and didn’t enter the house.