大禹 / Yu the Great

大禹 / Yu the Great appears in 75.故事新编：骷髅被复活后会感激庄子吗？ through [[LiShui|《理水》]]. The episode emphasizes Lu Xun’s contrast between a blackened, exhausted, calloused Yu who has inspected mountains, marshes, and popular opinion, and the insulated scholars and officials who speak about flood victims from a distance.

The source makes Yu both mythic and practical. His existence is debated through [[GushiBian|古史辨]]-style doubt, but inside the story his force comes from action: he rejects the inherited “堵” method, insists on drainage, and wants ordinary people to have transport, food, and stability rather than cultural ceremony.

Connections

• [[LiShui|《理水》]] - Lu Xun story where Yu becomes the practical flood-control figure.
• [[GuJiegang|顾颉刚]] and [[GushiBian|古史辨]] - scholarly doubt frame around Yu’s historicity and name.
• Disaster Aestheticization - contrast concept for scholars and officials who convert disaster into talk or display.
• Natural Hazard As Social Disaster - adjacent disaster frame for understanding flood as both water and institutional response.