Gun (father of Yu)
Mythical flood-fighter who stole self-growing soil from heaven
- Known from
- Shujing; Shan Hai Jing; Shiji; Chuci
- Son
- Yu the Great
- Task
- Controlling the Great Flood, under Yao
- Method
- Dams and dykes; in one version, stolen xirang (self-growing soil)
- Fate
- Banished, imprisoned or executed at Feather Mountain (versions differ)
Yu's father, who spent nine years damming the Great Flood and, in one myth, stole a magic self-growing soil from heaven to do it.
What is Gun known for?
Gun is the father of Yu the Great in Chinese flood mythology. During the reign of the sage king Yao, a flood covered the land, and Gun was chosen to control it. He tried for nine years, mainly by building dams and dykes to hold the water back, and failed.
The Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) gives a more mythic version. Gun steals xirang, a self-growing soil, from the Supreme God without permission and uses it to block the waters. In punishment the fire god Zhurong kills him at Feather Mountain (Yushan). Yu is then born from Gun's body, and in some versions Gun himself turns into an animal, such as a yellow bear or a dragon. Other texts say Shun banished or imprisoned him.
Gun is a mythological figure. The contrast between his blocking strategy and Yu's later success by channeling the water became a lasting lesson in Chinese political thought.
He is the failed flood-fighter, Yu's father, in the site's account of the Chinese Great Flood.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeYu the Great
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Gun (Chinese mythology)'Reference
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Shun'Reference
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