Chinese myth uses the failure of magic soil to teach that drainage beats damming
Chinese mythology uses the failed attempt to stop a great flood with 'expanding earth' to illustrate the superiority of hydraulic engineering over brute force.
The myth of the Great Flood features two contrasting heroes: Gun and his son Yu. Gun attempted to stop the waters by stealing 'xirang', a magical, self-expanding soil from heaven, to build dams. His rigid approach failed, and he was executed by the fire god Zhurong. His son, Yu the Great, took a different path; instead of damming the water, he spent thirteen years dredging channels and leveling mountains to allow the rivers to flow freely to the sea.
There's more to this story — open the app to keep reading.
Continue Reading in App
1 more paragraphs · plus a 1-question quiz