What is the myth of Dayu's water control?

~ The following content is transferred from Zhihu ~

This ancient history of the flood era has little belief in history and seems to be particularly interested in those open-minded and curious answers.

Inspired by this question, what caused the lack of records in Xia Dynasty? High energy warning ahead, ready to open a brain hole?

Key words: Dayu, flood control, Ying Long, Feitian Controlling Jiuding

1 starts with.

The rest are ants. -"Shuo Wen Jie Zi" Volume 12

Why is Yu a worm? According to myths and legends, there is also a water god, who is as famous as Gun Jade. He has a son named Julong, also named Hou Di. When offering sacrifices, there is often an afterlife, that is, the afterlife. )

* * * There is a saying in the Gong family that "dragon" means "changed". -Zuo Gong twenty-nine years

According to some scholars' research, the "Houtu" sentences of Dragon and Yu, who were sacrificed in later generations, are actually integrated, and they are all ancient people's worship of God, and the image of this God is dragon. The sentence of dragon is said to have the meaning of tornado. Shielding also. To know the meaning of such an ancient writing, we must start with Oracle Bone Inscriptions or inscriptions on bronze. Coincidentally, Dayu, Julong and Houdi all have the shapes of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen.

The word "Yu" in bronze inscriptions

At first glance, the triangular head has a long tail. If Yu Can is not a snake (or a bug), what is he? But strangely, there are still horizontal lines or forks. What's the solution? Don't worry, then look at the sentence.

oracle bone script

Ancient bronze inscriptions

I still can't get in touch with the meaning of dragon here, and then look down at the word "Hou" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

oracle bone script

Ancient bronze inscriptions

In fact, here, the meaning of Houtu can actually be explained, that is, "in situ". The picture below shows the image of "Si" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Houtu means managing land, that is, people who can manage land. This kind of person was a working class in ancient times, and both workers and Kun Yu belonged to this category. Furthermore, are the sentences "after" or "similar? Is the sentence dragon a dragon? Because of Si Long's extraordinary ability, he alienated the word four into a sentence, especially Si Long's "four", that is, a sentence. If we interpret the word dragon as a dragon, then the horizontal line in the word "Yu" can also be explained, which is a tool used by dragon makers to train dragons (or people riding dragons). I am not just a hieroglyph, but a knowing word.

2 Ying Long

This creature, the dragon, has such an image not only in our ancient civilization, but also in the ancient Mayan civilization. Too many ancient civilizations in the world recorded this mysterious creature. I don't think it's a coincidence.

The above picture shows the stone carvings on the roof of the temple built by Maya King Pacal the Great (March 23rd, 603-August 28th, 683). This picture immediately attracted curiosity, because it was clearly a young man (the son of the sun in the inscription) riding a flying motorcycle with a burning tail. If you look closely, you will find that the "motorcycle" head in this young man's hand is actually a very symmetrical pattern, which bends outward from left to right, and there is a figure similar to Hongshan Yulong at the left and right of the protruding end, and this "motorcycle" also has a scaly pattern. The tail of a motorcycle is bent backwards. This is a vivid description of an animal. Like a dragon?

Ying Long diagram

Let me add here, what is Ying Long?

Dragon five was a Ceratosaurus for a hundred years, while Ying Long was a Ceratosaurus for a thousand years —— Description of differences.

There are scales called dragons, wings called Ying Long, horns called dragons, horns called dragons. -Guangya

"Take a thunder car and drive Ying Long." (G: "Ying Long, Feilong; -Huai Nanzi Lan Mingxun

It can be seen that Ying Long is a relatively advanced dragon species, with wings, flying and being controlled. Why were there dragons in the great rivers at that time?

Look up all kinds of legends about dragons. Dragons are common in the sea. Why did Dayu meet in the hinterland of Henan at that time? The problem lies in the large-scale transgression caused by the global climate at that time. In other words, when Dayu was harnessing the water, the flood was not only caused by the flood of the Yellow River, but also caused by some transgressions. This can also explain why there are often shells (and they are symbols of identity) in the Neolithic Age or ancient sites suspected of Xialing. Some shells may be exchanged by Dongyi tribes in the sea, and some may be brought by transgression and river countercurrent.

(photo of Yingkou keel)

There are also records in ancient books of the countercurrent of the river at that time (in Mencius). Affirming the theory of transgression, it seems understandable that the dragon, a creature closely related to the ocean, came to the hinterland of the Central Plains. I also want to speculate on the growth and development cycle of dragons. First of all, the growth and development cycle of dragons is particularly long. According to different records, "dragon five was Ceratosaurus for one hundred years and Ying Long for one thousand years".

Secondly, the whole cycle of the dragon is not in the sea, but seems to lay eggs through a land->; Slow development in soil->; Mountain torrents flow down the river and develop rapidly in the river (this is the key, can Jackie Chan do it at one stroke)-> Returning to the sea is such a cycle. So at that time, Dayu or * * * workers were lucky enough to meet the mature dragon-Ying Long, who had returned to the sea because of the invasion. Without good development, it may become a variety of "dragon-like". The so-called dragon gives birth to nine children, which is their origin.

Then back to the topic, because of water control, it is very likely that dragons often appeared in rivers in the era of 10000~4000 years ago. * * * Workers have been dealing with them for a long time and are familiar with their nature, so they can domesticate and even raise dragons (there is a record of Kong Jialong in Xia Benji's Historical Records). But Kong Jialong didn't seem to get the true meaning of his ancestors. )。 What is Si Long used for? Water control.

He welcomes the sea, how to draw a calendar? Why are you camping? What do you have? -Chu ci JIU ge

Legend has it that Ying Long swept the floor with his tail to divert the flood for Dayu. Why the tail? Qu Yuan expressed incomprehension. I'm here to make mistakes. According to the legends of Ying Long in Western Europe, Maya and China, there is a legend that the power of scale insects comes from the tail (Pacal the Great's murals deliberately let the tail of the "motorcycle" spray flames). The tail of the dragon (scale worm) is powerful, which may be the more real details about the dragon preserved for us in various myths and legends. And dragons seem to have amazing water absorption ability.

The Yellow Emperor ordered Ying Long to attack the wild land of Jizhou. Livestock in Ying Long drink water. -Mountains and Seas via Huang Da North via.

The tail can plow the ground and the body can store water. This is really an excellent water control "tool" given by God to mankind. Perhaps because of this Ying Long, Dayu saved a lot of time in water control. Others say that Ying Long may be a person's name. But it is really unreasonable to have such a great achievement but not be famous in history books. It seems that Ying Long is really a dragon again. Because according to my imagination, Ying Long also helped Dayu a great event.

3 Tian Fei Jiuding

In the past, when summer was in full swing, all people came from afar. Gong Jin Nine grazes animals, casts tripod statues, and prepares everything for it, so that people can know God's betrayal. -"Zuo Zhuan Gong Xuan for three years"

Legend has it that after the success of water control, Dayu gathered in Kyushu and cast Jiuding. This Jiuding book introduces in detail the geography and local products of Kyushu known at that time. The purpose of Gai Dayu's casting this tripod is, of course, to show off his contribution to water control. More importantly, he arranged the geographical knowledge gained over the years into a map and cast it on the metal tripod that is not easy to be damaged to educate future generations. How many/much? It took nine cauldrons to complete the casting. Here, we have to be surprised that with the productivity conditions at that time, we were able to complete the two major projects of water control and map of Kyushu in the Dayu era. As mentioned earlier, if there really is an ancient god beast like Ying Long, it seems that the project progress can be greatly accelerated. In addition to water control, cartography is also. Ying Long has a powerful tail, which can store water. It also has a function, that is, it can fly with its wings. How high can you fly? Imagine the following scenario:

On a cloudless day in Wan Li, after many trainings, Dayu climbed to Ying Long and rode the wind. Rising higher and higher, rising higher and higher, the wind whistling in the ear. Dayu looked down and saw that the crowd on the ground was getting smaller and smaller, and the mountains in Juchuan became like small gullies and mounds. Further up, the crowd disappeared and the scenery became blurred. I don't know how long it took, but Dayu saw a spectacle that he will never forget: at the end of the sky, there is a boundary between heaven and earth! Curiosity drove Dayu Lapras to fly there.

But no matter how hard Ying Long flies, he can't get close to that line! How strange! At this point, Ying Long was exhausted, and Dayu had to go back according to the cloud.

So many times, Dayu gradually understood a truth, maybe the earth is not as flat as it looks, but somewhat curved. I also think of the experience of listening to the fishermen of Dongyi tribe when controlling water. When I come back, my family often sees the tall mast first, and then the bow. It seems that the sea is also curved. The boundary I saw at high altitude may not exist, but it is only the edge of the surface. Knowing this, Dayu decided to cast the truth of the earth and sea seen from high altitude on a surface with similar curvature, not a plane. A tripod is an object with a certain curved surface.

Xia Jie eats dragons.

If you turn it up a little, it is really possible for Yu to tame the dragon, and he has always combined the dragon with the divine right to stabilize his rule. But with the passage of time, generation after generation, the ability to train dragons gradually degenerated, and even the ability to distinguish dragons was gone. The spread of this kind of speech had a great influence on the rule of God Blessed, the son of destiny at that time, so this happened. The Confucius family decayed, disturbed (tamed) dragons, ate dragons, and Xia Jie perished.

Primitive portal