People worship the statue of Yu during the event. Photo: Courtesy of Multimedia Center of Beichuan

 
Before visiting Beichuan county, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, members of the young exchange group from the island of Taiwan had already heard about the story of Great Yu who controlled the flood, which is traditionally dated to about 2,300-2,200 BC. But the visit allowed them to stand at the hero’s birthplace, so they could feel the importance of Yu in Chinese civilization.

The sixth cross-straits exchange event on Yu culture was held in Beichuan county on Wednesday and Thursday, with more than 200 people attending. They gathered to hold a grand ceremony to worship Great Yu on the recorded date of his birthday, and learned more about the spirit of Yu.

The story of the flood begins during the reign of Emperor Yao, when both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys flooded. Yao selected a distant relative named Gun to lead the effort to control the flood waters, but the efforts failed. However, Gun’s son Yu was successful.

Yu took an approach oriented toward drainage rather than containment with dams and dikes. The success of these efforts earned Yu glittering fame throughout the country.

At the ceremony held on Thursday, Yu’s spirit was defined as selfless and wise, based on his devotion to controlling the flood and helping the victims. 

A graduate student surnamed Hsiao from Taiwan told the Global Times that he had heard about Yu’s contribution as it is part of the common historical memory of Chinese people around the world. After attending the event, he had deeper feelings about Chinese ancestors’ courage and wisdom when facing disasters.

Yu culture represents the resilient and determined Chinese spirit. Sharing this with young people in Taiwan is “particularly significant against the backdrop of the rather tense cross-Straits political conservation,” Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University in Fujian, told the Global Times.

Besides the worship ceremony, the visitors from Taiwan also visited local museums devoted to the culture of the Qiang ethnic group, for whom Beichuan is one of the main settlements. They experienced the embroidery of Qiang and talked with young people from local schools. For most of them, it was their first time visiting the county and seeing the life of the ethnic group.

One Taiwan student of art and design was impressed by the Qiang embroidery and told the Global Times that the visit has given him new inspiration.

Cross-Straits exchange events on traditional Chinese culture have been more frequent in recent years. The current one in Beichuan county is “special and meaningful” since it allowed young people from Taiwan to see the “diverse and localized Chinese traditions,” Wang noted.

“Many cultural activities have brought Taiwan youth to cities like Beijing and Shanghai,” the expert said. “Those cities show them Chinese modernity, but the Great Yu culture in Beichuan shows them something else.” 

“Young people from the island of Taiwan can be a bridge to change how the whole of society understands Chinese traditions like Yu culture,” Wang said.  

The event has been held five times and Yu culture has become one of the local cultural symbols. In a press conference on June 26, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said Taiwan residents, especially young people, are welcome to visit the hometown of Great Yu during the summer vacation so they can learn more about Yu’s story.