Creating Myth in the Regions

This study investigates one of China’s most prominent mythical narratives, the story of Great Yu, renowned for his curbing of the flooded waterways in deep antiquity. Classical records claim that Fangfeng, the tutelary spirit of a mountainous territory in Zhejiang, was executed by Great Yu at the time of the establishment of China’s first ruling dynasty, the Xia. Villagers in Fangfeng’s former kingdom seek to exonerate their ancestral leader by inserting him as a flood hero into the mythic tradition surrounding Great Yu. The broader issue at stake is the justice of Great Yu’s execution of Fangfeng, and, by implication, the role of the ruler as ultimate law maker. This study draws on historical and ethnological evidence to investigate the role of public sentiment, regional tensions, and notions of governance, in the construction of temple traditions and mythical stories in Chinese regional culture.