Is “Yu transformed into a bear and the birth of Qi” true?

novel invention

后世流传大禹治水时化身为熊,涂山氏见之羞惭化为石头,石破而生启。Records in Records of the Grand Historian, Basic Annals of Xia only mention that Yu married a daughter of the Tushan clan and that she bore a son named Qi, without any mention of the supernatural (「夏后帝启,禹之子,其母涂山氏之女也。」source: Basic Annals of Xia.txt). Although there are hints in Songs of Chu, Questions of Heaven, the complete plot of Yu transforming into a bear and the stone splitting to give birth to Qi finds no explicit textual basis in the aforementioned early core classics; it is rather the result of later evolution.

Yu the Great

The peculiarities of the flood control process and the birth of Qi.

Other claims about Yu the Great

Sources cited above. Compiled with AI assistance and checked against those sources; for cultural reference.Data & method →

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