Xu Hailiang, Xuanyuan Yan

Natural Disasters of the Lower Reaches of Yellow River during the Longshan Period
—— The Natural Background of Dayu’s Flood Control

Xu Hailiang, Xuanyuan Yan*

It is very important to study the archaeological culture and origin of civilization in ancient China. The changes of the channels in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in the prehistoric period are part of the natural environmental background of the development of the ancient civilization in that area to be explored. This paper presents a series of legends, indications, scientific evidence, and macroscopic geographical background information of the evolution in the lower reaches of the Yellow River during the Longshan period. At first the river flowed from Northern Henan and Hebei to southwestern Shandong Province and Northern Anhui–Jiangsu provinces, and the mainstream of the Yellow River changed from the southeast to return to the north and flowed into the Bohai Sea in the late Longshan Period. During this period，floods were frequent. Various ethnic groups in the northern China plains suffered natural disasters and made great migrations which also contributed to the ethnic exchanges and integration. The people of the Central Plains made more dynamic adjustments in the relationship between mankind and the land by primitively escaping from the water and self–defensively controlling the rivers then to maintaining the local ecological environment by large–scale flood control measures，which promoted the settlement of Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces，the urban cultural development，and social evolution. Based on these events, the culture symbol of Dayu’s Flood Control could be formed.

Longshan Period; Lower reaches of Yellow River; evolution and changes; disaster environment; Dayu Culture for Harnessing Flood

Qu Yuan wrote in theSongs of Chu: Tianwen: “What did the Eight Pillars hold up? Why was there a gap in the southeast?” … The flood abyss was extremely deep – How did he fill it? Nine were the regions of square earth – How did he pile them up? What did the respondent dragon draw on the ground? Where did the lakes and rivers go through? What did Gun manage to do? What did Yu complete? When the tumultuous thunder rumbled, why did the earth tilt toward the southeast?” Those are thought–provoking questions regarding the legends about natural disasters in ancient China that were recorded in documents of the Pre–Qin Period and are the reflection of natural process and water control activities of human beings.

Analysis was made on the impact of natural disasters to the environment during the Longshan Period, the evolution of the north and south flow of the Yellow River, and the relationship to prehistoric cultural transition and social evolution in four papers:①The four papers were included in Xu Hailiang’s book On Paleogeographic Environment and Culture of Zhengzhou published by Science Press in 2015.Natural Disaster in Henan during the Longshan Period and the Significance of Dayu’s Flood Control, Cultural Heritage of the Central Plains and Dayu’s Flood Control, On Key Reform Principles of“Jueditiantong”(Intercession Between Heaven and Earth) and Influence, Dissemination of Cultures of Chongshan and the Central Plains. Together they reviewed research findings of other disciplines such as tectonic geology, archeology, paleogeography, and fluvial landforms. It is believed that the lower reaches of Yellow River mostly flowed southward 4,600─4,800 years ago, and the mainstream then turned to flow northward about 4,200 years ago. The changes in flow of the Yellow River over the geological time and historical period were controlled by tectonic activities in North China.[1]During the Longshan Period, the occurrence of natural and man–made disasters led to a mix of ordinary people and wizards. This phenomenon caused Zhuanxu (a mythological emperor of ancient China) to implement religious reform. Flood control by Yao, Shun and Dayu were carried out in the late Longshan Period when disasters occurred frequently and the mainstream of the Yellow River turned to flow northeast into the Bohai Sea. Migration, integration, and social and cultural evolution of ethnic groups in the Central Plains were closely related to this change of the Yellow River.

1. Geological Environment of Floods at the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River during the Longshan Period

A river flowing by its original course is both a geographic phenomenon in natural evolution and an incisive summary of this phenomenon made by mankind.

Based on studies on the process and law of changes of the Yellow River in history, it is known that prehistoric rechanneling of its lower section could be successive occurrences of channel change of the river over the geological time. The difference is that channel change and flow of the river during the geological time occurred naturally. Starting from the late Longshan Period, the river was subject to spontaneous human intervention such as blocking, diversion and draining. During the historical period, people started to build systematic embankments to control the north and south rechanneling of the river (Figure 1) and take an active part in reforming the geological landform environment.

Figure 1 Channel Changes of the Lower Reaches of Yellow River in the Historical Period (by Zou Yilin)

By comparing the river’s flow direction in different periods, it is found that the lower reaches of Yellow River kept changing its course at the east of the Taihang Mountains and the Songshan Mountain, and in the west, south and north of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, which acted as an enormous barrier that forced the river to flow along low–lying land on its sides or to flow into the Bohai Sea or the Yellow and East Seas. Taking the Yellow River during the Han, Tang and Northern Song dynasties as the dividing line, the mainstream of the lower reaches of Yellow River during the late Yangshao Period and the early Longshan Period basically flowed through the overflow channels (as mentioned inShanjing and Hanzhi, or referred to as the ancient Jingdong Course) in the north area to the dividing line. The mainstream of the Yellow River during the early Longshan Period (about 4,600 years ago), however, flowed southward and inundated the southeast area to the dividing line. The overflow channel was close to the water courses at different stages during the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and the stabilized river course. This situation seems to be the answer that the nature presented to Qu Yuan’s ingenious question on why the land tilted toward the southeast and why there was a gap in the southeast. But about 4,200─4,300 years ago, the mainstream of the lower reaches of Yellow River began to flow northward gradually and returned to the above–mentioned overflow area during the late Yangshao Period and kept flowing in the same direction that was mentioned inShanjing,YugongandHanzhi. The river’s evolution over hundreds of years during the Longshan Period was not only due to the gradual change in spatial scale of the area flooded by the river and in flood runoff, but also owing to unexpected catastrophic geological events. Different from the historical period, there were no embankments at that time and there were too many branches in the lower reaches, and the river flowed by its natural course which was adjusted by filling pits or depressions. At certain periods when there were some changes in the mainstream, the turnout of the water and sediment scale of the river, it may change its course to some extent, but that is totally different from levee failure and rechanneling in history. Water control activities from the late Longshan Period to the successful control achieved by Dayu could last over 200 years. Ancient Chinese people regulated local water and land by making use of environmental change and adaptation to the evolution pattern of the riverway in southwest Shandong, east Henan and north of Jiangsu and Anhui, referred to as Yanzhou and Yuzhou in ancient Chinese history.

It is generally believed that the north and south flow and rechanneling of the Yellow River are merely related to hydrology (flood and sediment). As a matter of fact, by viewing from the nature of river rechanneling, it is an environmental geology issue relevant to hydrology and sediment system and is of a greater or more fundamental level of dynamics and change. The temporal and spatial changes in the Yellow River were determined andrestricted by the geological environment. It was often the faults that controlled the rechanneling of the river. Figure 2 shows the division of tectonic units of the basement of the North China Plain. The flow area and overflow channel of the Yellow River lay mostly in a depression or faulted section of the basement. It seldom happens, or is hardly possible for an overflow channel to choose a heaved or raised part of the basement to flow through. During the 2,000─3,000 years before the Yellow River flowed southward and caused flooding in those areas at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, its downstream river channel lay basically in the Jizhong (central Hebei), Huanghua, and Jiyang depressions, and changed its course along the restriction set by the uplifts on both sides. Although at certain places, it broke through some uplifts (e.g., the Tongxu, Taikang, or Neihuang uplifts), or for several times chose to flow through the overflow channel of the Huzi River in the Dongpu Depression, or that of the Yinghe River or the Bianhe River in the Kaifeng Depression to get into the Jining─Chengwu Depression and the Zhoukou Depression in the south of North China. Its basic pattern, however, remained unchanged. The evolution trend of the lower reaches of Yellow River was determined and subject to different stages of geological activities, the repeated, invisible and relative rising or falling of different tectonic units of the basement, acceleration or slowdown of uplift or depression, aggravation or slowdown of tectonic activities of relevant faults. On this premise, paleogeographic lithofacies maps[2]of the North China Plain in the late Pleistocene and in the Holocene show that the lower reaches of Yellow River took Zhengzhou as the vertex of the alluvial fan in the Holocene and diverged into many ancient overflow channel belts. Historical overflow routes of the Yellow River were enveloped in those belts. Major levee failures of the river due to natural force all occurred at the intersections of active faults.[2]

Figure 2 Schematic Diagram of Tectonic Units of North China (by Li Fenglin)

More interesting is that studies on marine geology of the Old East China Sea disclose that the estuary of the ancient Yellow River was not far away from the riverway of the ancient Yangtze River on the continental shelf of the East China Sea exposed during the Last Glacial Maximum15,000─18,000 years ago when the sea level was the lowest. It was not the only choice for the ancient Yangtze River to make a detour to flow into the sea via the Bohai Strait (although someone now holds that the ancient Yellow River flowed into the Jizhou Waterway of the Yellow Sea via the central trough of the Bohai Sea). It can directly pass through the Huanghuai Plain that needed illuviation and formation. During the low–sea level period, the waterways in southwest Shandong and east Henan formed from the running Yellow River and the Huaihe River werethe channels for diverting flood and reducing water levels by natural forces later. The vast marshes, lakes and low–lying areas that were connected to the ancient waterways in the regions adjacent to Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui were the places to hold the huge amount of overflowing water and sediment.TheGeomorphic Profile of the Huanghuaihai Plain in China(Shao Shixiong, et al., 1989) shows that on the Luoshan─Wenshang profile, the area from Heze (a county in Shandong) to the Grand Canal was characterized by deep lacustrine facies sedimentary strata during the early and early–mid Holocene. And that was also the case with the area west to Shangqiu on the Wuzhi─Xiaoxian profile during the same period. Overlying fluvial facies deposits during the late Longshan Period and the historical period (figure omitted).

The successful flood control by Dayu is a milestone in the development of geological environment. From then on, the Yellow River left the south depressions in the North China Plain and flowed into the north depressions. This change also marked mankind’s participation in the improvement of geological environment–an alteration in human and land relationships during the cold and dry period when the climate and the environment were changing. Floods in ancestors’ minds include the following: Basin–wide extraordinary floods; river swelling or inundation due to regional excessive rain or rainstorm; river bed evolution or hydrological variation due to uplift of sediment illuviation; blocked estuary or downstream due to rising sea level; flood disaster subsequent to earthquake; sharp change in regional water and land levels due to river channel shift, and deterioration of the relationship among river, lake and marsh due to meteorological disaster and river channel shift. A disaster implies natural and social connotation. In this case, the concept of flood in legends may involve changes in human society and the cognitive system for human and land relationships under the evolution of social structures. Therefore, the concepts of floods in ancient books contain rather complicated and profound information on natural and social aspects.

Figure 3 Schematic Diagram of the Flow Evolution of the Lower Reaches of Yellow River during the Longshan Period

As shown in Figure 3, during the Longshan Period, most water and sediment of the Yellow River left its original old overflow channel in the Hebei Plain and flowed southward via the plains in Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui, mainly through (1) overflow channels of the Yinghe River and the Bianhe River as the Yellow River breached its banks at Zhengzhou when flowing eastward, and (2) the overflow channel of the Huzi River as it breached its banks near Puyang. After the river’s southward flooding came to an end during the late Longshan Period, those overflow channels turned into waterways of the Yingshui River, the Danshui (Bianshui) River, the Jishui River, and the Huzi River in the Pre–Qin Period. The first series of overflow channels mentioned above were controlled by the Huayuankou, Yuanyangdong, and Xinxiang─Shangqiu faults; while the second series of overflow channels were controlled by the Dongpu, Jiyang and Wuxingji faults. The orientations of the faults determined the directionof the flow and the intensity as well as the time of change of the faults’ activities determined the temporal and spatial changes in the flow. The occurrence of levee failure in such places as Xinxiang, Yuanyang, Zhengzhou, Zhongmou and Kaifeng during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties can be regarded as the reoccurrence of southward overflow of the Yellow River during the prehistoric period. In the third year of Yuanguang (132 BC) and the tenth year of Xining (AD 1077), the river broke its banks and flowed through the Huzi Waterway (which had several levee failures in the same area in history) and down to the Dongping Lake, the Nansi Lake and the Xuzhou─Sishui area and southward to Heze and Jining. Gaocheng Relics in Puyang, regarded as the ruins for Zhuanxu, was near the overflow channel of the Huzi River at that time. The major north and south overflow channels in history basically originated from those of the Yellow River during the geological time and the Prehistoric Times. This demonstrates the significant role that geological structure played in the evolution and transition of the lower reaches of Yellow River and functions as the basis for our studies on channel change of the Yellow River during the Prehistoric Times through research on southward flooding of the river during the historical period.

Zhang Kewei from Henan Provincial Department of Geology and Mineral Resources explained, “The east and south parts of the Taihang Mountains rose as a whole during the mid–Holocene and the center of subsidence moved to the east and the south. The Mengjin─Heyangshan fault also had successive tilting movement. All the above are the geological background of the river’s continuous rechanneling to the south and the east.”[3]In this way he analyzed the basic geological cause for the southward flow of the Yellow River during the Longshan Period and from the end of the Northern Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Compared to Taohuayu of Zhengzhou, Puyang acted as the vertex of a subfan of the Yellow River alluvial fan during the mid–Holocene. The ancient river on the ridge of the subfan was the Huzi River. Inference about the overflow channel of the Huzi River during the Longshan Period was drawn from a current geological profile of riverways of the Yellow River from Dongbatou (Lankao County) to Weishan (Donge County). The stratigraphic section of the profile①The above riverways are referred to as per the designation and explanation by Tan Qixiang, a famous historian and geologist at Fudan University.shows the multiple structures of clay, loam and sandy loam underneath the ancient Yellow River’s bed. It also shows that the part below Batouji of Puyang to Weishan should be a section of the overflow channel of the old Huzi River and the boreholes at Zhaozhuang of Taiqian County are within the scope of the ancient Dayeze Lake. Borehole detection was carried out at the current Dongping Lake. At 7.8m in depth, a borehole reveals a stratum 14C dating back to 2250±80 years, which is considered to be deposits of the Juyeze Lake during the Qin and Han dynasties. At 10m in depth, the borehole reveals a stratum14C dating back to 4,500─5,000 years, which is considered to be deposits of the Dayeze Lake during the Longshan Period.[4]The Yellow River left the overflow channels of the Huzi River, the Yinghe River and the Bianhe River and returned to the Hebei Plain and kept its course along the direction of those riverways②mentioned in Shanjing (referring to the rift valley in front of the Taihang Mountains), Yugong and Hanzhi due to the Jizhong and Huanghua depressions. Thanks to optimum use of natural conditions during the Yu Period of the Xia Dynasty, success was achieved in regulating thechaotic river system and water and soil conservation in the ancient Yanzhou and Yuzhou areas. It is a similar case with the lower reaches of Yellow River running southward in 1855 which changed its course at Tongwaxiang and reentered the Jiyang depression and then flowed through the current riverway (the overflow channel of the Jishui River). After reconstruction of levees more than ten years later, the river course became relatively stable. This reversion during the historical period can be used as a source for our understanding about the prehistoric evolution trend of the Yellow River.

At the end of the late Pleistocene and in the early–mid Holocene, the Yellow River intruded on a large scale into the east of Zhengzhou via the overflow channels of the Bianhe River and the Yinghe River, mostly through Gangli─Liulin─Z hacheng─Baishabei. Paleogeographic lithofacies map of Zhengzhou during the early–mid Holocene[5]shows that the channels were the major ridge at the southern flank of the Taohuayu alluvial fan, with the maximum deposition thickness of more than 15m, and the lenticle width of the main current up to 4─8km. The area from Huayuankou, Dahe Village, Shaoyuan, Shamen to the forest park in Zhengzhou mostly has fine–to–medium sand deposits as the Yellow River passed through the area repeatedly during the Prehistoric Times. Detection was made through the boreholes at the forest park and those at Huozhuang (near the Dongfeng Canal) for earthquake planning. The results show the age of deposition of fluvial facies. The deep yellow fine sand layer is 11.20±0.95ka.B.P) and light yellow fine sand layer is 4.62±0.39ka.B.P in the former site. The fine sandy clay loam of the soil layer (3ka ago) is supposed to be lacustrine facies sediment (due to river stoppage). The silty sand layer in the latter site is 4.70ka.B.P ago[6], roughly revealing the time when the overflow channel came into being. Boreholes at Dahe Village of Zhengzhou and Putian show that the overlying and underlying layers of lacustrine deposits include diluvium of 7.96─6.04 ka ago and 12.03─9.72 ka ago as well as flood–plain deposits of 9.72─8.98 ka ago and 5.43─4.74 ka ago respectively[7]. Overflow of the Yellow River occurred on a large scale in Zhengzhou at the beginning of Holocene. The river sought different courses between the overflow channels of the Yinghe River and the Bianhe River so that fluvial and lacustrine facies appeared repeatedly. The Dahe Village is home to the relics of cultures from Yangshao to the early and middle Longshan periods (4.4─4.1ka.B.P). The absence of relics featuring the late period of the Longshan culture may be caused by cultural migration due to changes in the river system[8]. In addition to this, some shallowly buried ancient riverways of the Yellow River were found in the northwest of Shandong. Wang Qing believed,“Those ancient riverways are supposed to be the channels for the Yellow River to flow into the sea before the Longshan Culture… It is very likely that at least in the Dawenkou Period, the river flowed through those ancient riverways to the sea.”[9]In earlier days, the Yellow River also ran through the overflow channel of the Jishui River near the Jiyang depression to the sea (before the Longshan Period). It is a fact with geological and landform evidence that the Yellow River had a multiple of ancient riverway belts of main overflow channels.

The tectonic geology of southward flooding of the Yellow River during the early Longshan Period is as follows: The uplift of the Taihang Mountains intensified and alluvial–proluvial fans of the rivers developed more quickly toward the southeast, squeezing the main streams of the Yellow River to move southeastward; it is also possible that at that time there was occurrence of geological or astronomy–related catastrophic events that caused the Yellow River to take a sharp turn southward within a short period due to their impacton hydrology; in the meantime, the uplift of the Tongxu─Xuzhou zone and the Mount Tai were weak so that the Yellow River could flow southward along some faults and pass through the gap between the uplifting zones, or even across them. Without restriction of levees, water and sediment were scattered on the Huanghuai Plain. During the period, a huge amount of sediment filled the low–lying land and widespread lakes and marshes on the plain. Although the Yellow River ran across the Huaibei Plain, it was unable to incorporate the Huaihe River to get into the sea so that no obvious underwater delta came into being beyond the estuary of the Yellow Sea but such kind of delta developed at the end of the late Pleistocene, the beginning of the Holocene and the Ming and Qing dynasties.①Some people in oceanography argued that the Yellow River did not flood southward as no underwater delta in mid–Holocene was found at the estuary of the Yellow and East Seas. This is open to discussion.Till the late Longshan Period, tectonic geology was possibly just the contrary to that in the early period: The uplift of the Taihang Mountains slowed down while deep fault at its east side intensified; the settlement of the Jizhong Depression accelerated; the interval of the Neihuang Uplift prolonged; a substantial amount of water and sediment of the Yellow River hence came back to the Hebei Plain from east Henan.The Geomorphologic Map of the Huanghuaihai Plain in China, which was compiled by Shao Shixiong, describes in text that the alluvial fan of the Yellow River in the Holocene which took the mouth of the Qinhe River as the vertex had deposition occurring before 2278 BC till AD 1194, i.e., from the age of development of the river mentioned inShanjingorYugongto that of the alluvial fan of the Yellow River in north Henan during the Song and Jin dynasties. It was roughly in the 23 Century BC that the Yugong river came into being.[10]A supposition was made by Academician Ren Mei’e that a highly intense earthquake at the Taihang Mountains caused the Yellow River to change its course and flowed through the route of the Yuhe River. This is not impossible as the change actually occurred in north China during the strong earthquake period (2440─2010 BC).[1]Definitely, further studies are needed to draw on disciplines of paleo–earthquake and fluvial landform for analysis and argumentation.

2. Literature Review on the Evolution of the Yellow River during the Longshan Period

As confined to the ancient books, studies on the history of the Yellow River civilization has so far not covered or interpreted the prehistoric evolution of the river in detail. Qu Yuan posed his questions about ancient Chinese history and the ancient Yellow River in hisTianwen, which inspires this paper to identify the issue in myths and legends.

There were already battles between the Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, between Gong Gong and Zhuanxu for hegemony.

According toGuoyu(Discourses of the States) and other ancient books, deluges occurred in the reign of Zhuanxu and Gong Gong (a Chinese water god).Guoyu: Discourses of Zhou(II) states that: Gong Gong abandoned the Way, indulged himself in pleasure and ruined his life with wanton and reckless behaviors. He damed the rivers, reduced the highland, and blocked up the low–lying ground, and so he damaged the nature. But Heaven did not give him good fortune and the common people refused to help him. Disaster and disorder sprang up everywhere and Gong Gong was destroyed.”Lieh–tzu: Questions of Tangdescribes: Gong Gong fought with Zhuanxu for kingship. Gong Gong saw that he was losing, so he bumped his head against Mount Buzhou in anger. The pillar of the earth collapsed and the cords of Earth snapped. The heaven tilted towards the northwest and thus the sun and the moon, stars and planets shifted in that direction. The earth sank in the southeast, and thus rivers and sediment flowed toward that direction.”Huainanzi: On Military Strategymentions that: Gong Gong caused water disasters so Zhuanxu defeated him.”Huainanzi: Patterns of Heavendepicts a similar story as mentioned above inLieh–tzu:Questions of Tang. Both of the stories involve a series of environmental disasters occurring to tribes of Zhuanxu and Gong Gong in north China and highlight the disasters caused by southward flooding of the Yellow River about 4,600 years ago. The Yellow River flowed by its natural course at that time. The rivers in the text “(Gong Gong) wanted to dam the rivers” refer to the parallel and overflowing channels. Gong Gong’s tribe lived to the west side of the Yellow River. It was possible for them to partially dam the river to protect themselves. But their way of “using the neighboring area as trenches” increased the hazard to Zhuanxu’s tribe which lived downstream. The text describing Gong Gong “occupied seventy percent of the waters and thirty percent of the land so that he could rule the region by this natural advantages” likely implies that Gong Gong’s tribe threatened the other tribes with potential flooding.“The earth sank in the southeast” just connotes that the southeast was subsiding so that the Yellow River flooded there and “thus rivers and sediment flowed toward that direction.” “The heaven tilted towards the northwest” possibly denotes earthquakes at the Taihang Mountains and tectonic activities in ancient times. InThe classic of mountains and Rivers: Classic of the Great Wilderness(South), the sentences “The wind blew from the north and flood gushed out of the heaven” also signifies floods.

Originally, there were already battles between the Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, betweenGong Gong and Zhuanxu for hegemony. With the Yellow River rolling on to the southeast, the territory to the west of the river (the alluvial–proluvial fan in front of the Taihang Mountains) kept extending while that to the east of the river (east Henan and southwest Shandong) was shrinking due to flood impact. This situation intensified the conflicts between the two tribes for the sake of survival. The reason why little Zhuanxu went east to Shaohao for shelter may not be only for political failure, but also for avoidance of water disasters and disorder.①Such a conflict due to water and soil change still exists in the contemporary era. Dr. Hu Yingze of Research Center for Chinese Social History, Shanxi University wrote a monograph titled Flowing Land (Peking University Press, 2012) which reflects a profound conflict between water and society.Moreover, he did not have to reach the sea shore (Rizhao) where the Dongyi tribe lived and may flee from the native land of Yellow Emperor (nowadays Puyang) to escape from the flooded area of the Huzi River and arrived at the ancient Jingyanggang city–state in Yanggu County, a higher place about 100 km away from Gaocheng, Puyang.Huainanzi: Fundamental Normmentions, “In the reign of Shun, Gong Gong caused a flood and the torrent approached Kongsang.” Gong Gong caused the flood by taking advantage of the high altitude to launch the deluge. The tribe of the Yellow Emperor lived in Heji, a relatively low–lying area so that they were the chief victims of the flood caused by Gong Gong (a monster or a personification of the Yellow River).According to Zhang Xuehai, Kongsang was Qiongsang, which was situated at“the west side of the ancient Jishui River and at the convergence of Hebei, Shandong and Henan but mostly in Shandong. It was an important habitat of the Dawenkou Culture, the frontal zone of the Dawen River reaches and adjacent to the settlements of the Yangshao Culture.” This area was also subject to flooding of the Yellow River. Since the river breached the banks at Huzi during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the river, along with the Jishui River nearby, often inundated this area, which had been hard–hit by water disasters since ancient times. All those descriptions were in line with the geographical conditions of Qiongsang.”Therefore, he believes that this area was Qiongsang, the ancient capital (some scholar said that it was at Qufu) of the Yellow Emperor before Zhuanxu moved the capital to Puyang. He mentioned a quotation cited fromAnnals of Emperors and KingsinThe Records of the Grand Historian: Basic Annals of Zhou: “The Yellow Emperor took the throne at Qiongsang and then moved to Qufu. Shaohao lived in Qiongsang and shifted the capital to Qufu to take the throne (cited fromImperial Readings of the Taiping Era: Sections of Emperors and Kings. The above quotation is followed by “and he was therefore titled as Emperor Qiongsang”). Zhuanxu originally set up his capital at Qiongsang and then shifted it to Shangqiu.”[11]Therefore, Gong Gong was actually a demonized or personified image of the Yellow River flood, which flowed through the core settlements of the Yellow Emperor’s tribe and further southeast to inundate Kongsang, causing disasters to people living in those areas.

Viewing from the history of the Yellow River, the battle between the Yan and Huang tribes continued for hundreds of years and accompanied the north and south flow of the river in the North China Plain. When Dayu controlled the flood, there were stories about how Dayu defeated Gong Gong and killed Xiangliu, Gonggong’s subordinate. Legends passed down from generation to generation attribute floods caused by the Yellow River’s returning to the Yubei and Hebei plains in the late Longshan Period to Gong Gong’s tribe. Records in classics and historical books are all mainstream annotation by the conqueror YellowEmperor’s tribe and are collateral evidence for thousand–year evolution of the lower reaches of Yellow River. During the late Longshan Period, the Yellow River flowed to the north and kept its course, which can be found inShanjingandYugongas well as in documents of the Pre–Qin Period. In those early years, the tribes of Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun mostly lived in the southwest of Shandong, particularly at Dingtao near Heze and on the banks of the Leixiaze Lake. Floods mentioned in ancient books involve meteorological disasters that actually occurred on the one hand; on the other hand, “enclosing mountains and overflowing on hills” describes the circumstance that the Yellow River flooded east Henan and southwest Shandong. Emperor Yao moved his political center from southwest Shandong to the lower and middle reaches of the Fenhe River in Shanxi to avoid water disasters. Analyzing from historical and geographic perspectives, Wang Shouchun draws a conclusion on the basis of archaeological culture and records in classics that “Emperor Yao migrated from current Dingtao in west Shandong to Linfen in Shanxi.”[12]Taosi Culture with a higher level of civilization is supposed to emerge after the migration.

Reexamination of prehistoric information in documents of the Pre–Qin Period from the perspective of natural science answers the questions raised by Qu Yuan to some extent. Some scholars believe that Kongsang Village was located at the current Gegang, Qixian County in east Henan or may generally refer to southwest Shandong and east Henan. The southward flooding of the Yellow River during the Longshan Period was exactly in such a relatively low–lying area and the specific site of the ancient Jingyanggang city–state was in the north of the area. Flood–stricken people in east Henan either sought highland for inhabitance, or went far away to highland or hilly land in front of the Songji Mountain to the west of the Beijing─Guangzhou Railway to settle down. Is this migration relevant to the spread of the Wangyoufang Culture to the Yangtze River, the Huaihe River, the Songjiang River and the Qianjiang River of Huangpu?

3. Evolution and Transition of Ancient Culture in the North China Plain and Its Relation to the Changes of the Yellow River

Findings of archeological researches on the convergence of Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu during the late Longshan Period also provide evidence for water control activities of Dayu. From the late Yangshao to Longshan and Yueshi periods, the low–lying areas of the alluvial plains in Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu were passed through by the Yellow River, the Jishui River, the Pushui River, and Jushui River, and close to the Dayeze, Heze and Leize lakes. There were many relics featuring the Gudui Culture, with over 500 sites identified in Heze and Jining. Zhi Tianfu from Heze Culture Museum conducted studies as early as the 1970s and 1980s.The landform was given different Chinese names in east Henan, central and south Hebei, southwest Shandong, and Jiangsu and Anhui, all referring to mounds or hillocks, which were used or reinforced by ancestors as abutments for inhabitance and avoiding floods. Those relics of such platforms are also proof of ancestors’ avoidance of flooding of the Yellow River, the Jishui River, the Pushui River, the Bianshui River, and the Yingshui River.

Emperor Yao, with his name connoting soil, may be the ruler of the tribe which originally lived in Gaogu next to the banks of Daheze.

Ancestors living in the Yudongbei (northeast Henan) Plain during the Longshan Period were displaced by the flood. There were mainly three destinations for them to take refuge: The TaihangMountains, central Shandong and the highlands of Songji Mountain. The reasons why Zhuanxu went to the seat of Shaohao, why Emperor Yao expelled the Gong Gong clan and led his tribe for Shanxi via the eight passages in the Taihang Mountains, and why ancestors of the Xia tribe settled down around the Songshan Mountain, are possibly related to avoidance of floods in east Henan. To stay away from a flooded area was only one of the choices. Ancestors living in front of the Taihang Mountains could also migrate to east Henan and southwest Shandong along a southeastward riverway for reducing the water amount and merged into the Dongyi Culture. Tribes of pre–Xia and pre–Shang may also migrate along such kinds of overflow channels. Therefore, ancestors did not simply or passively flee from a flooded area. They survived by adapting themselves to the environment. There are relics of Zaolutai in Yongcheng and of Wangyoufang beside the overflow channel of the Bianshui River, dating back to 2580─2140 AD a.B.P. According to the results of the second archaeological survey, there are 151 relics featuring the Longshan Period in east Henan, 80 in southwest Shandong, and 49 in north Anhui. The total number is much larger than that (90 sites) of relics featuring the Dawenkou Culture in those areas. This demonstrates that it was a gradual process for those settled ancestors to adapt themselves to the living environment during the Longshan Period. Among the 151 sites in east Henan, however, only 36 of them are identified as relics of the late Longshan Period and only 2 in southwest Shandong. This shows that there were not many sites remaining after the deluge (certainly, there are still some relics pending for identification).

Henan Longshan─Erlitou Cultural Relics

The layout map of the Henan Longshan─Erlitou Cultural Relics also shows the trend of dramatic decrease in the density. Disaster–affected environment severely restricted the development of settlements. Ancient Longshan city yet took shape in the flooded area (by the Yellow River) in east Henan. The ancient Pingliangtai city, built about4,300 years ago, was one of the instances. Analyses on the relics show that the city walls may have been used primarily for water resistance. Like what is described in ancient books that “Gun had high city walls built for protection,” legend has it that Gun had embankments and cities built to stop water, starting from setting up dikes or stockades for villages. According to the layout of the relics of settlements, most of them were situated in the second lake and marsh zone on the Huanghuaihai Plain, i.e., in the water system consisting of the Yellow River, the Jishui River, the Danshui River and the Sishui River. In the meantime, settlements were concentrated along the water system which consisted of the Yellow River, the Jishui River, the Danshui River and the Yinghe River on the first lake and marsh zone (Zhengzhou, Xinxiang and Kaifeng) at the top of the Yellow River Delta. The Zhengzhou area is represented by Xishan Ruins, Wangchenggang Ruins in Defeng, and Guchengzhai Ruins in Xinmi, which show the concentrated layout of old cities and satellite towns. Some surrounding settlements became a famous cluster of towns during the Xia and Shang dynasties. Ruins of some satellite towers of the ancient Xishan city are found in Huangtuling of Guangwu and some are submerged under the Yellow River shoal. The ancient Xishan city was deserted 4,800 years ago. Is this also relevant to the southward flooding of the Yellow River during the early Longshan Period? The ancient Wangchenggang city in the early period dating back to the 22nd century BC and was destroyed by a flood later as well. By analyzing geological data for traffic and urban construction works of Zhengzhou, it can be seen that the surface layer of the zone from the east end of the Guangwu Mountain to Nanyangzhai and the People’s Park consists of fluvial facies deposits of the early and mid–Holocene, with the lenticle width of the sand layer being up to 2,000─3,000 m. This demonstrates that there was a large river passing by. Undoubtedly, it was the Yellow River.

InThe Records of the Grand Historian: Basic Annals of Yin, King Tang of Shang wrote hisAnnouncement of Tangas: “Dayu and Gao Yao were engaged in doing everything that was beneficial to their people so that the people can lead a safe and happy life. They tamed the Yangtze River in the east, the Jishui River in the north, the Yellow River in the west and the Huaihe River in the south. When the four rivers were under control, people could settle down without worries.” The text describes the scope of water control during the late Longshan Period and the development of settlements. Shen Changyun holds that the Xia tribe first lived in the area between the drainage basins of the ancient Yellow River and the Jishui River. The capital of Dayu’s kingdom was at Puyang, the center of the ancient Heji area. The unearthed Gaocheng Relics in Wuxingxiang of Puyang strengthened the conclusion.[13]We certainly regard the Dayu Culture not as a regional one but a culture of the Central Plains. Water control activities of over 200 years and tortuous development of the settlement culture in the Heji area gave rise to a cluster of settlements centering on the typical ancient Longshan city. This is also the proof that water control by Dayu during the late Longshan Period successfully promoted social development.

The layout map of the Longshan Culture relics in Henan shows that most of the relics are adjacent to riverways (or in the highland between rivers) on the East Henan Plain during the historical period. This means that during the southward flooding of the Yellow River, runoff discharge was along the ancient drainage system at the end of the late Pleistocene. The flood did not destroy the entire ecology on which ancestors in east Henan depended. The legendary water control activities by Dayu were carried out in east Henan and southwest Shandong during the late Longshan Period. To a large extent, the activities were aimed to dredge the existing riversystem blocked by sediment of the Yellow River, to discharge impounded water in lacustrine zones, and to drain and develop some marshes. To put it in another way, the purpose was to regulate the natural river system environment by humans under prehistoric conditions.

Xu Jinzhi, a famous geologist proposed the concept of “parallel and consequent rivers” in East Henan and Huaibei plains in his paper on preliminary plan for harnessing the Huaihe River. The rivers roughly refer to the Tuohe River, the Huihe River, the Baohe River, the Dasha River, the Suishui River, the Huiji River, the Guohe River, the Jialu River, the Yinghe River, the Fenquan River, and the Hongru River in east Henan, which are all considered as channels for reducing water flow of the Yellow River and for flood diversion in the northwest–southeast direction during southward flooding of the Yellow River.[14]

Coincidentally, there is another piece of evidence. At the top of Juci Mountain north of Yuzhou, there are a series of rocks engraved with a variety of mysterious cultural symbols. On the surface of a relatively flat rock, grooves were carved almost in parallel and toward the southeast direction. The gradient of the rock surface is close to that of a natural slope in current East Henan Plain. The strike of the man–made grooves is approximately the same as that of the consequent river in the plain. The first impression that the rock gives to people who are familiar with the geography of east Henan and the history of transition of the Yellow River is that it is like a monument in memory of the ancient river system in east Henan. Could it be a monument in honor of Dayu’s harnessing and restoration of the river system or could it be engraved by ancestors of the Xia tribe to depict the river system in east Henan before the southward flooding of the Yellow River after the success in water control or by ancestors of Yangshao to describe the river system in ancient times?①Yao Hanyuan, a veteran expert in water conservancy history, was delighted to know the findings in the Juci Mountain in central Henan, which is supposed to be relics of Dayu’s achievements.

It should be mentioned that the research and findings of the ancient Liangzhu Irrigation Works traced large scale water control activities of Chinese ancestors back to 5,000 years ago. This fact also increases our confidence in studies on Dayu’s water control activities (including relics of his footprints).

Dayu

On the basis of archeological studies on ruins of ancient cities in Mengzhuang, Qicheng, Gaocheng and Tieqiu in north Henan, Yuan Guangkuo concluded that there was a vast Heji cultural area called Hougang II which centers on Puyang and includes the late Longshan Culture in Luoyang and Zhengzhou and the Wangyoufang Culture. He proposed that “Hougang II Culture in the Heji area should be the main subject for exploring early Xia Culture,” “Hougang II Culture was mostly discovered on the banks of the Yellow River or the ancient Jishui River at the southern or eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, existing in a vast region from Jiyuan in the west to Heze of Shandong in the east, south Hebei in the north, and southern area to Kaifeng in the south…”, “There are many relics featuring the Hougang II Culture. Over 100 of such sites were found in Puyang, Anyang, Xinxiang, and Kaifeng of Henan as well as Heze and Liaocheng of Shandong. There are also a number of relics buried under silt of the Yellow River due to continuous flooding.” Currently, archeologists have excavated the ruins at Hougang (Anyang), Baiying (Tangyin), Mengzhuang (Huixian County), Mazhuang (Puyang), Lidazhao (Xinxiang), Gudui (Anqiu of Heze), Lutaigang (Qixian County), Wangyoufang (Yongcheng), with plenty of relics and artifacts unearthed. According to ancient books, capitals in the Xia Dynasty “were all located in the Heji area; for instance, Yu had his capital at Yangcheng, Taikang at Zhenxun, Xiang at Zhenguan, Ning at Laoqiu, Yinjia at Xihe, Jie at Zhenxun…, except that Jie set his capital at the Yiluo River basin in west Henan.” InThe Records of the Grand Historian: Basic Annals of Xia, there are descriptions about the Si Princedom in the Xia Dynasty: “The Youhu clan lived in the Yuanwu area to the north of Zhengzhou and on the north bank of the Yellow River; the Zhenxun clan settled down in southwest of Weifang, Shandong; the Fei clan inhabited in current Yutai County, Shandong; the Qi clan lived in current Qixian County, Kaifeng of Henan; the Zeng clan dwelled in current Linyi County, Shandong; the Xin clan resided in the Shenzhongji area in current Heze of Shandong; the Zhenge clan lived in the area between Kaifeng and Shangqiu of Henan; in Henan, the Ge clan dwelled in the current Ningling County, the Wei clan in Huaxian County, the Gu clan in Fanxian County, the Kunwu clan in Puyang, and the Youyu clan in Yucheng County; in Shandong, the Youreng clan lived in northwest of Caoxian County, and the Youge clan in current Dezhou.”[15]The above statements show that the Heji area was the key zone where the clans for water control in the Central Plains lived and developed during the late Longshan Period.

According to Han Jianye and other scholars, the Longshan Period can be divided into early and late stages by a time point of about 2,200 years BC.[16]They also hold that the Zaolutai Culture was influenced by the Wangwan III and the Hougang II cultures.[17]This means that Yuan Guangkuo’s definition of the Hougang II pan–Heji area is objective.

The fact that the Yellow River flooded southwest Shandong and east Henan in ancient times and then returned to the east of the Taihang Mountains isalso supported by evidence from archeology. In the Erlitou Cultural Relics Site at Yanshi, settlements of the late Yangshao to the late Longshan spread from a higher place at Jiahetan to the original low shoal. This demonstrates that during the late Longshan Period, the lower reaches of Yellow River changed its course, the riverbed was eroded, and the flood level from the downstream to the mouth of the Yiluo River dropped dramatically so that first grade terrace could develop and cultural relics could expand. Take the studies on environmental change in Fengtougang Ruins in Huixian County as an example, “During the late Longshan Period, the river was subject to incision, erosion and accumulation, so fluvial facies grit layer and flood plain sediment were deposited.”①Studies on environmental changes at Fengtougang Ruins in Huixian County from the Longshan Period to the Han Dynasty is Zhang Xiaohu’s paper contributed to the First China Archaeological Congress in Zhengzhou 2016.This phenomenon also happened to the downstream of rivers in front of the Taihang Mountains. It demonstrates that: During the late Longshan Period, the Yellow River just entered a new riverway (Yuhe) in front of the Taihang Mountains and the channel degraded; the riverbed and the nearby tributary on the alluvial apron of the mountains were both subject to corresponding degradation and incision.

Han Feizi: Outer Compendium of Persuasionsstates that Emperor Yao raised an army and killed Gong Gong at the capital of Youzhou.Zhuangzi: Zaiyoumentions that Emperor Yao expelled Gong Gong to the capital of Youzhou. Apart from their literary meanings, do those texts also imply some environmental significance that the runoff of the Yellow River changed to flow in the Central Hebei Plain?

Definitely, we can study water control activities during the Longshan Period from a broader perspective, including exchange among ethnic groups, agricultural development, or scientific and technical progress. But the premise and basis for understanding water control by Dayu lie in studies on the environment, cause, scope and scale of floods during the Longshan Period, especially the late period, from archeology, geology and geography.

(Translator: Deng Maoyin; Editor: Jia Fengrong )

This paper has been translated and reprinted with the permission ofThe Central Plains Culture Research, No.1, 2017.

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*Xu Hailiang, former secretary–general of Special Committee for Disaster History under China Association for Disaster Prevention, visiting fellow at Disaster Reduction Center of the Ministry of Water Resources, senior engineer. Xuanyuan Yan, a cultural scholar, mainly engaged in archaeological exploration of the culture during the origin of human civilization.