Yu the Engineer and Flood Stories from China: Crash Course World Mythology #17

On this Crash Course in World Mythology, Mike Rugnetta is teaching you about floods and deluges, specifically in China. In Chinese myth, flood stories pretty much all revolve around a guy named Yu the Great, or Yu the Engineer. In the distant past, he was tasked with stopping the flooding on the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, and he did it. After working on the job for 13 years. Yu also founded the legendary Xia Dynasty. Yu exists as a sort of model for future emperors. He works tirelessly on behalf of his people, and always does the right thing. He's a good emperor, and a model for rulers to emulate. He's also super cool, and can turn into a bear when he needs to dig really fast.
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[@Raida]

I keep hearing Yu as "You", and suddenly this becomes the best self-help tape on KZbin.

[@GothamBum]

Almost sounded like he was telling me what happened after I blacked out from all the baijiu last night.

[@chaotic7255]

Raida 😂😂😂🤣

[@HWDragonborn]

Imagine meeting a blind man name Yu "Who are you?" "I am Yu." "Are you deaf?" "Yu is not deaf, Yu is blind." "I am not blind, you are blind." "That is what Yu just say."

[@TheTeKuZa]

@@HWDragonborn Rush Hour joke

[@GregTom2]

All the other mythologies have heroes solve their problems by praying hard, or by killing stuff, or by tricking someone. Chinese mythology has heroes do heroic deeds with math and engineering.

[@buukute]

Still disappointed their parent

[@athenali3132]

Ok, I may be wrong here but the myth of the flood I grew up with had some variations: - The flood was caused by two gods (the god of water (共工) and fire (祝融)) who were fighting at a mountain which held up the sky. The water god lost so in his rage he hurled himself into the mountain causing the heavenly water to pour down from the hole in the sky - Nu Wa, the goddess who created mankind was heartbroken by how her people were suffering from the flood so she patched up the hole in the sky (using molten rock) and slayed a giant turtle for its legs to regain balance of the sky once more - Even though Nu Wa stopped the water from coming down, there were still a lot of excess water on the ground and that's where Gun (Yu's father) came in - The heavenly emperor decided that Gun was best suited for this job and ordered him to go and help the people with the flood water. Gun stole some "magical dirt" which grew in size once it touches water (I think) and when the heavenly emperor found out that he had stole it, he was furious and decided to have Gun killed. -Gun put the dirt on the ground and even though there were more land now, the water was still there so he didn't succeed and was soon killed by the soldiers which were sent to kill him. - Because of his determination and restless spirit, Yu came out from his stomach after he was killed determined to continue what his father had failed to do. That's the story my mom told me and what I read when I was little (I was really into mythology for a time)

[@jomolololo4398]

Athena Li never forget your culture and history , i find they give only one version and pretend thats the only way it happened , they dont show more than one interpretation

[@athenali3132]

+Gary Watzittoyaa yeah, I'm really really glad they're presenting mythologies from China but it would be nice if they told the story that most Chinese know.

[@sulynn7916]

Athena Li I was told that version of the story too as a kid! 😂

[@vanessafeng5983]

hell yes now THATS what i learnt in high school

[@athenali3132]

yeah, like I have no idea where they're getting their mythologies from but they're definitely not the ones most Chinese grew up with!

[@angelmints]

*finds wife literally turned to stone* "pls give me the baby" ...

[@stephenlaw1910]

Anna Macacchero Detoni something is wrong there

[@jasonnung2645]

here are the Chinese characters of the people mentioned in this video: Yu the Engineer: 禹 or 大禹 ("Yu the Great") or 夏禹 ("Yu of Xia") Yu's wife: 涂山氏 Shun, the ruler before Yu: 舜 The god of the Yellow River: 河伯 (lit: "grandfather river") Responding dragon: 应龙 Helping tortoise: 贔屭 (pronounced: "bixi") Yu's father: 鲧 (pronounced "gen") Nine headed monster of floods and swamps: 相柳 (pronounced "Xiang liu") Monster of the Huai river: 無支祁 (pronounced "Wu Zhiqi")

[@emmadong1802]

谢谢

[@brandontea3815]

Thank you! Was about to do that! Haha

[@slowsatsuma3214]

We on 217 already ? Time flies man.

[@treenutspeanuts]

honestly.

[@towhatdegree]

Feels like the series was only on #16 like two weeks ago.

[@daniellincoln3744]

Dang what did we miss?

[@ashboon1625]

Daniel Lincoln We missed 200+ videos :(

[@asmaajama2201]

I think the 2 in front means Season 2 so 217 is Season 2 Episode 17.

[@janmelantu7490]

So an Engineer becomes the first Chinese Emperor? China had their priorities straight.

[@andreascovano7742]

A theorist would be better tho

[@Firmus777]

Technocracy FTW

[@culwin]

Not a reality TV show host? Huh.

[@itsKarenTerry]

Most Chinese politicians today have engineering degrees. I wouldn't say being an engineer necessarily means you make a good leader. They've had great and terrible leaders just like any other country.

[@joejoewoo1]

lol

[@richardhaw9757]

Yu is most probably a real person that was elevated to divinity through the generations.

[@leezhieng]

Just like Confucius, Guan Yu, etc.

[@fluorine3]

I'm glad we finally get to talk about Chinese myth! But I think one element the video didn't mention is the comparison between Gun and Yu. When Gun (Yu's father) was called to fix the flood problem, he entered the heavenly palace and steal a magical "soil" called "Xi Rang" (息壤) or living soil, which would grow non-stop. Gun used this living soil to build dams and tried to stop the flooding rivers. He had failed and because he stole magical items from heaven, was executed by the fire god Zhu Rong. And then his son Yu was appointed to deal with the flood again. Yu learned from the mistakes of his father, you can't stop natural forces like water or wind, you can only channel them. That's why Yu decided to build canals and aqueducts to guide the water. The moral lesson is "unstoppable natural powers shouldn't be confined, it should be guided, channeled for good use."

[@kylemwalker]

The myths, civics, and education of ancient china is perhaps the greatest model of human civilization. Of course there are tons of acts of terrifying human depravity, but the model they set to try and curb that instinct is amazing. The myths are all based around humans and a quest to overcome our imperfections rather than as a way to live up to divine expectations or a promise of divine reward. Their civic model was one that aspired to reward hard work and honesty. Their education system was one of deep introspection and inspiring a desire to help the society rather than better oneself. It is less about reverence for an individual and more about reverence for their actions. Early American civic heroes approach this type of thinking. George Washington, Ben Franklin, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Abraham Lincoln, etc.

[@AmandaFromWisconsin]

Screw you youtube I wont use my full name I think Western culture is more individualistic, which isn't a bad thing, in my opinion.

[@attalan8732]

Amanda Tessmer I personally feel a good balance between East and West is the best way. Best of both worlds?

[@WeiYinChan]

Actually the flood was the result of two gods throwing a hissy fit, at least in the mythological version, the emperor didn't don't anything wrong. They fought each other over some stupid reasons (like insulting each other) and broke the sky during the fight. Water started pouring in and Nu Who, who was the goddess who created humans melted some rocks to patch up the sky but the damage was done and the flood was still persistent. Yu is actually not always a god/demigod and is sometimes portrayed as a human. Also Yu's father was first responsible for handling the flood, and he attempted to do it by building barricades and dams to stop the water. It didn't work and made the flood worse so the emperor had Yu do it instead. Yu thought outside of the box, and decided to do the complete opposite and tried to direct the water away from human inhabitations by digging tunnels. After succeeding, the emperor elected him as the successor to reward his work. I find this version of the story very important as it distinct our flood story to a lot of other flood stories m, like Noah's Ark. In a lot of other mythology, flood happened because God or a god was mad at humanity messing up and inflicted the flood was a punishment. But he (it's always a he) handpicked a small group of people who are obedient to him to save. In the Chinese flood story, the gods started the flood without any concerns for humanity (just like how real disaster happens for no intrinsic meaning), and humanity overcome the damage the gods inflicted on them with their own willpower and wit. This shows the difference in how people view "gods" and the relationship people have with them in different cultures.

[@lissam8988]

Thank you this is interesting thought. And I also had a thought. No matter what's going on around us, humans should be taking care of humans, no matter if you believe in a God or not. And this sometimes very challenging because the way the world views human life.

[@wcainw]

13 years no coming home and yet he has a son, something fishy is going on.

[@user-wb7ez9ud4p]

His son was 13 years old when he came back, mystery solved.

[@spiriteagle5126]

Exactly what I thought haha

[@mariabumby]

Petition for crashcourse mythology to never end? Seriously love these stories

[@sjneow]

This should certainly keep going

[@srishtiparihar960]

crash course is the best channel on KZbin

[@Frahamen]

*YuTube

[@culwin]

2nd best after Poppy

[@dylansutherland8688]

Frahamen *bah dum tsss*

[@levlev.1028]

affirmative! that is besides JustforlolzFYI

[@giabea.]

I guess I missed 200 videos...

[@Suite_annamite]

In the span of a week! Now *that's* a record miss! ;)

[@Nelsonic92]

me too haha

[@firstnamelastname3315]

Yu wasn't an emperor, but a king. The first emperor came along much much later. Regarding the differences to the other cultures: I think the biggest difference is that Chinese are perfectly OK with worshipping mortal people while other cultures primarily worship gods.

[@MrLi-fd4hs]

Chinese religion has always been secular. Therefore, the Chinese established a modern state more than 2,000 years ago.

[@simlucien]

Spends 13 years trying to save the world from flooding - bad husband.

[@user-wb7ez9ud4p]

Tru, but, it would only have taken him 10 seconds to pop in and say "hi"

[@zjsopro]

崔莱 the fear he has is that once he let himself in,he will never leave.

[@tessacarstairs5998]

Hey! Just want to point out that the crown (or hat) which is handed from Shun to Yu at 2:04 is wrong. The kind of hat used in the video was only used by emperors of the Qing Dynasty（1644-1911）, which was a dynasty thousands of years after the stories of Shun and Yu. Also, I've been a CrashCourse fan for over a year. Love the videos you guys made!

[@pihungliu35]

Speaking of turtle, there's a myth that Yu, when dealing with Lo river (a branch of Yellow River), found this one turtle having some carving on its back, which turns out to be a 3 by 3 magic square. It's called "Lo Shu Square," and plays important roles in Chinese divinatory. BTW, the 抱歉 (bao qian, means "sorry") in the episode is quite accurate tbh.

[@ryanjin2623]

LOL! They used He Bo's character model from SMITE in the video!

[@simonlow0210]

Ya. I noticed that too. XD

[@mandyyfaithh]

Really hope Celtic Mythology gets covered in this series!

[@firebucket8203]

Will you be doing welsh and Irish mythology ?

[@HeyItzRosie]

Fire Bucket Hopefully because I would love to learn about The Morrigan and the rest of the Irish gods/goddesses

[@firebucket8203]

SuperGamerGirl72 I was always curious about welsh and Irish mythology but could not find a acceptable source to learn it from

[@meganthefencer694]

SuperGamerGirl72 the Morrigan yes!

[@ElBailes]

I want some Cu Cullain goodness

[@culwin]

Nobody can say Welsh words.

[@patrickhodson8715]

It'd be nice if you had put the names of the people and places on screen, so that those of us who do speak Chinese can know what you're saying.

[@yhhx647]

Patrick Hodson 😂😂😂笑死我了，我也是，说的中文基本没听懂

[@alexwang982]

Patrick Hodson LOL 他说的不好

[@Xagzan]

I just think it's funny he mentions it now, once we've already experienced his Yoruba and Japanese pronunciations lol

[@BunnyFett]

Just Google it instead of complaining. It's not hard to find.

[@patrickhodson8715]

BunnyFett that's true, but since the purpose of this video is to educate, I feel there's more of a case to be made that the presenters would do well to include the names of the people and places on screen, particularly if they're going to make a point of saying how bad the pronunciation is. Since people have different learning modalities, it's good to cover your bases and include visual and auditory cues together whenever possible.

[@TheTeKuZa]

Me: Who are you? Yu: I am Yu. Me: Not me. You!

[@baldbadger7644]

Still, Popular Chinese myths were somehow used by emperors to enforce their rules and control the thought of people. in this case, the figure of "yv" (the bear-husband) is emphasize in many myths to tell the ancient Chinese people that everyone should work hard. Kindda like the old version "Chinese dream"

[@starlinguk]

张帅 And the Noah story and other Biblical stories of ten teach "it's OK to be an a-hole as long as you obey God."

[@josiahsimeth3681]

starlinguk regardless of where you're coming from, never interpret biblical old testament stories as just "be like main character". Most aren't the greatest role models. I would argue none are primarily there as role models.

[@twistedtachyon5877]

You're right about that... David the adulterer/murderer, Jonah the racist... the list goes on. Fallibility and sinfulness among humans is pretty dang consistent in in the bible, right down to the apostle John worshiping an angel in revelation. :p Heck, there's also the quote "No one is good. No, not even one."

[@rollandibrahim4277]

Unless you have proof that this myth came from the government, your conspiracy theory is nothing more than a propaganda from the other side.

[@baldbadger7644]

This is actualy from a paraphase from our history text hook

[@Luboman411]

LOL. So Chinese hero gods are engineers and excellent managers. Why am I not surprised that this is one of their more important myths? This is the culture that has, after all, made people who passed the imperial examination with flying colors a 1,000 years ago into demigods.

[@joedawg199]

#217, so is it season 2 already?

[@marcushead9985]

My introduction to Yu was Stargate SG-1. "Yu?" "Don't. Every joke, every play on words..."

[@XxOverAndOver6xX]

I love Mike's delivery. It reminds me of a slam poet, and a lot of these myths are very poetic. This might be my favorite Crash Course subject 💕

[@jagawanakimi]

Mike Rugnetta is so funny and cheerful. He makes this series more fun!

[@aperson22222]

Why no episode last week? Was it rained out? Ha ha ha

[@firebucket8203]

Clever

[@meganthefencer694]

aperson22222 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@starlinguk]

aperson22222 I think Nick was ill or at VidCon or both.

[@JimmyCelestica]

starlinguk these videos are prerecorded

[@user-pp4pu1eo4b]

7:29 He saved the world through his intellect? Yu smart. Yu loyal. Yu grateful.

[@34Thel]

I mostly remember from Crash Course World History that mispronouncing is John's thing, apparently you're a sort of exception... Are you Mongol by any chance ?

[@MrCordycep]

Bugle sound.

[@alexwang982]

dodooodadoaa

[@RafaelMascol]

Not sure if your willing ignoring ancient Chinese literature but there's a flood story the precedes this one with The ancient goddess Nuwa (yes sounds exactly like Noah) who after a hole is torn in the sky she uses the 5 magical colored stones (like a rainbow) to repair the sky and cuts off the legs of the great turtle to make the 4 pillars that hold up the sky. Now along with her husband Fuxi, they populate the Earth. I would really like to see you do this story.

[@asmaajama2201]

I'm not sure if you've planned any future episodes. But some stories on East Africa would be awesome! You may have already included some I'm still going through the episodes. Awesome content by the way!! ^^

[@MusicalRaichu]

So Yu's wife couldn't BEAR her husband?

[@kramermariav]

MusicalRaichu 👏

[@theslimreaper2877]

Lol

[@jackmahoy2874]

👏

[@pancreasnostalgia]

It's interesting how this episode supplemented the world history episode on Chinese history. I know a lot about modern China but not much about ancient China.

[@zaneeverett5960]

I liked the episode, and understand that this series focuses on myths, but I was disappointed that there was no mention of the recent archeological evidence of the Xia floods. It would have been nice to see a short segment putting thought into how real wold events translate into myths.

[@ave8243]

i just love this series 😍💕

[@crusatyr1452]

I know, it still seems fresh after 217 episodes!

[@ave8243]

The GuardianX wow... time flew so fast huh

[@serllyvega7160]

Finally!!! Another crash course mythology, I wish they would post more often 😪😪😪 love it!

[@sststr]

And then in the Journey to the West, Sun Wukong claims a staff used by Yu to measure to the depths of the floods and the monkey king uses it very effectively as a weapon in his journeys.

[@Pandapucks]

The story about the flood and emperor Yu might in fact be historical. The research paper was published in Science magazine in 2016. (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf0842)

[@meganthefencer694]

Will you do an episode on Filipino mythology please??

[@Xagzan]

Odds on their Maui looking like the Disney version?

[@meganthefencer694]

Xagzan maybe, I'm hoping that he covers the myth of the Aswang- a Filipino vampire

[@Xagzan]

Isn't the Filipino vampire the Manananggal?

[@meganthefencer694]

Xagzan I've always heard it called the Aswang

[@meganthefencer694]

lesslighter huh, didn't know that. Thanks

[@ninja_goose4360]

I didnt know we had 200 episodes.. yall been workin hard..

[@ModelOmegaForReal]

there are so many "the great" and "the terrible" why can't we have more "the engineer?"

[@CrimsonDip]

3:45 HEBO FROM SMITE HEUHUEUHEUHUHU PogChamp

[@chickknightgreenleaf820]

question, what the heck it your animated Chinese emperor at 2:00 and 7:47 wearing on his head??? that not what they wear pre Ching dynasty.

[@JonathanHung8]

Chickknight Greenleaf lol I noticed that as well

[@huilei8295]

in ancient china, people believe emperor was the son of God, people shouldn't look at his eye directly, so he need to wear a curtain to cover his eye, and then it become a symbol of emperor. your means the last dynasty, Qing dynasty wasn't Han Chinese, so they were different.

[@chickknightgreenleaf820]

yes the Qing dynasty, I forgot the "Q" and "CH" pronoun difference in English and Vietnamese

[@chickknightgreenleaf820]

also... Yu the great wearing his robe backward.

[@Samuel-xv5lm]

It's hard to google mispronounced Chinese names, so when you say them could you put the characters on screen too? EDIT: thanks for putting up subtitles

[@sususegar]

Or put them in the descriptions. Easier to copy and paste

[@alexwang982]

Samuel Yu is 余

[@linus198062]

Nope, its 禹

[@jasonnung2645]

Samuel here are the Chinese characters of the people mentioned in this video: Yu the Engineer: 禹 or 大禹 Yu's wife: 涂山氏 Shun, the ruler before Yu: 舜 The god of the Yellow River: 河伯 (lit: "grandfather river") Responding dragon: 应龙 Helping tortoise: 贔屭 (pronounced: "bixi") Yu's father: 鲧 (pronounced "gen")

[@Samuel-xv5lm]

Thanks!

[@frankromans3000]

This guy is so awkward yet charming....I love it!!!!!

[@mikeor-]

Xia Dynasty (2070-1600 BCE) Shang Dynasty (1600-1045 BCE) Zhou Dynasty (1045-710 BCE) Spring and Autumn (710-445 BCE) Warring States (445-220 BCE) Qin Dynasty (220-206 BCE) Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) Three Kingdoms (220-280) Jin Dynasty (280-420) Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581) Sui Dynasty (581-618) Tang Dynasty (618-907) Summer and Autumn (907-960) Song Dynasty (960-1279) Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) Republic of China (1912-1915, 1916-1928, 1931-1949) Empire of China (1915-1916) Chinese Soviet Republic (1928-1931) People's Republic of China (1949-Current)

[@tat3179]

It looks like a still ongoing job to this day to me. Recent attempts to tame the Yellow River or the Yangtze River involves building the biggest hydroelectric dam in the world, the Three Gorges Dam.

[@kimone6831]

I'm late..! •Looks around.• And the flood is long gone...

[@ilovemylifeful]

i cannot express my excitement when i see that there is a new cc mythology! i am so happy! thank you for making this series

[@Sunnansjo]

Nice Smite ref 3:56

[@marius8014]

Yes, Yu the Engineer!

[@Mumu_UwU]

I can't help feeling talked to directly every time he says YU, so Yu gathered the monsters and so on 😂😂😂😂😂

[@BrunoTP]

Everytime Mike refers to Yu, I think it's me, haha.

[@yihuiang3165]

Perhaps the origin and basis for these Yu "myths" differ from the other flood myths? A very important form of religious worship in China is ancestral worship, and hence it is unsurprising that old historical events become embellished over generations of retelling and hence take on "mythical" qualities. Would Yu seem more real if I tell you of a present day connection? In Yu's time, family names had yet to be widely adopted. When Yu's engineering project was proven to be a success, the workers were bestowed the family name "洪“, which means "flood". Fast forward today and this is still a prominent Chinese surname with families that can still trace back to this origin. Incidentally 洪 is my family name and I grew up thinking that this was my surname's origin story. I have since found out that my family's "branch" originated at a later time, but still, pretty cool, right?

[@987weee]

Thank you so much for pronouncing Xia correctly. So many other people just dont even bother and call it "see-uh" which doesnt even sound remotely chinese.

[@Animotion1000]

This is a very immersive episode...it's almost a tabletop RPG

[@cris7386]

3:51 the smite design for he bo. Looks like they got a lot of inspiration from smite! xD

[@blackphillip5757]

Damn, was really hoping for that episode on trickster gods.

[@Navesblue]

What I got from this episode: "No matter the challenge. Yu can do it."

[@brandontea3815]

From what I see, while reading Chinese myth, taking away those god related, and magic related part, the story seems so real.

[@satanases]

one of the best wilhelm screams I've heard in a while, well played.

[@solaireofastora3]

Wait I wasn't asleep for 200 episodes worth of time guys I think

[@VChong1991]

I like how they are using the Smite's He Bo model.

[@spencerdougan1113]

Anyone come here crying from idea channel????

[@aaronsmith5864]

Spencer Dougan yup

[@Prussiaz]

yessir

[@selfdribblingbasketball9769]

Man Idea channel is the best. Even though more than half the stuff he says goes above my head I love it.

[@AirborneSurfer]

Here's an idea: Mike Rugnetta is the figurehead of the maturation era of KZbin.

[@dexteradams6515]

Many many tears.

[@rkpetry]

Not presuming but in case you didn't schedule it, Be sure to include all the American Indian stories about the great flood when Manabush killed two Anamaqkiu spirits who lived in the underworld (caves beneath the heaven mountain), and another, for mistreating a trout....

[@jlk7417]

The lady that you pronounced Tu Shen Chi made you sound like you said 'Too Angry' in actual Chinese XD

[@miguelrosario3935]

Thanks CC

[@Benni777]

"Yu had help from other mythical helpers" me: "Rhett and Link?"

[@talathion369]

It seems to me that we have just as much evidence for Yu the Engineer and the Xia as we do for Achilles and Troy. Both are stories filled with myth and legend, but we have some city ruins that archaeologists like to point to and say "this must be the site!"

[@margarety.3918]

I’m Chinese and I don’t mind the mispronounced characters, this is still really interesting.

[@AEHCPIRPTPS1120]

Dragons in early Chinese history were nice. It was not until the introduction of the naga from India that dragons gained a more negative reputation, so for the context of these myths, it makes sense that the dragon helped. Edited w/ list of names referenced in video: Yu the Great/Engineer of the Xia dynasty Shun the Emperor who handed over his title to Yu High/Supreme God Di Yinglong the yellow dragon Hebo the god of the Yellow River Xiangliu the 9 headed monster Wuzhiqi the monster of the Huai River

[@pedroscoponi4905]

For more eastern stories about role models, I recomend Extra Credits' mini-series on Admiral Yi. What a guy.

[@budakbaongsiah]

Pedro Scoponi That's no myth, though.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

It's history but it still sets an example just as well as any myth, so ¯\__(ツ)__/¯

[@FuZandy]

Very interesting take on the flood myrths!

[@malchicken]

I'd be interested to hear a discussion on the idea of 'history' when considering the role these "myths" played for the people of their time. Were these stories considered factual history? Was history as a factual event even a thing or is that a more modern concept (Karen Armstrong has argued something akin to this I think)? Was 'fact' even a thing? How did the people o the time view these "mythologies". Please discuss.

[@GuilhermeSilva-uq7on]

Dude, I lost it at the bear part. auehauheuaheuqheua (This is how we laugh here in brazil)

[@alexn.2901]

I thought you laugh like this: KKK

[@GuilhermeSilva-uq7on]

there are a huge variety of types. "kkkkk" would be a more classic and traditional one. Nowdays we just type wildly some combination of letters and go with it. Looks silly, but its public consensus by now, so... aeuaueuaheuaruaheuahueha

[@babyfromda404]

Do you guys have merchindise I hope you do because I love this channel so much 😀

[@May-sl8gk]

Talk about the Taino Gods. They have all sorts of stories between the thunder god and storm god

[@sophiamaghanoy7178]

God of being Hangry😂😂 That's Hoobi in Come back home😂

[@user-si6qn5iw5s]

Surprisingly, I've never heard this one before.

[@IanHsieh]

Kinda disappoint that this episode only covers only one main version of the Chinese flood myths. There is a version that says the flood is caused by the wars between gods damaging the separation of Heaven and Earth, causing the Heaven River to downpour. (INCEST ALERT) The ancestor of human Fuxi and his sister Nüwa was saved by the giant calabash gourd in their yard. They cut the calabash gourd into halves and use it as a lifeboat. And the rest is pretty similar to the Noah's ark story. Interestingly, some scholar believes that this is also the source of Pangu as the creator god, since Pangu can also translated into calabash gourd. There are a lot more flood myth in China, including another one where Nüwa (yes there is multiple versions of Nüwa), the Mother Goddess who created human, save the humankind from flood by sealing the hole in sky with 5-colored stones. The same war between gods that caused the flood also caused the entire sky to tilt to northwest and earth crumbled at southeast. This myth also explains why all celestial bodies rise in the east and set in the west, and why all rivers flows eastward to the ocean (at least in China).

[@SortofUnpleasant]

Thank you for making this video.

[@rowanm4787]

i love crash course

[@kennethliu470]

I guess Yu's wife found his tunneling unbearable.

[@puffy54045]

It's like the got on Smite and were like "Hey tis is what He Bo looks like now you guys"

[@aniqa5816]

Hi! Thank you, CrashCourse, so much for making these videos. They help me a lot when I'm studying or just trying to learn something new. I just wanted to ask you...Do you know that your captions are a little off? At about 4:10 the auto-captions say "wooshii see the monster of the Hawaii River" when you said "Wuzhiqi, the monster of the Huai River." If you get a chance, could you please fix that? Writing in the correct closed-captions for your KZbin videos will help the MILLIONS of people all over the world who rely on closed captions to understand and enjoy them too. (Especially when the words are not in English!) Thank you all so much, and keep up the great work! :)

[@MsDragonAngels]

Episode #217????.......hmmmmm

[@Deryan-tv2tt]

I can picture the first person to tell these stories just laughing. Haha

[@cavv0667]

Mike likes saying Doody!!! ;)

[@DarkOmegaMK2]

Yu's deeds were such that eventually a popular website would adopt his name in honor to him, and because of that, we have Yutube.

[@Pfhorrest]

How cool, a myth narrated in the second person. I never knew the Chinese thought I did so much impressive stuff.

[@ECPlex]

Who me? Yes Yu!

[@sammjust2233]

He has a real Bran The Builder feel to him

[@aaronsmith5864]

Samm Just ahhh I knew someone was gonna draw that comparison

[@lordcawdorofmordor2549]

The Yellow River is pronounced 'Hu-ang He' and for "Ying Long" a closer pronunciation is "Ying Lung" Also another version of the wife-rock thing is simply the wife waiting for her husband and turning to stone from grief

[@eboneezeradams1821]

The job of Yu and his father (who actually was put to death for failing) was not to stop the flood. After the flood, whole valleys were filled with water and the job was to drain them.

[@michaelyang9971]

我是在香港的中国人，很喜欢你的节目，加油！

[@dorawang5451]

I can tell you how Chinese dig into mountains. set a hot fire then put water over the fire to break rock. it took long time, but it get the job done before TNT.