Yu the Great was a legendary man who fought against and subdued the floods which caused so much trouble to the people living during that time. It is believed that he was the leader of a tribal alliance in Northern China and finally ascended the throne and became king of China.

It's said that a great flood lashed China about four or five thousand years ago and Yu the Great was assigned to fight against the great calamity. Drawing lessons from the predecessor's failure, he used methods of channeling and dredging instead of blocking and damming the water up. To better handle the people and eliminate the catastrophe, he divided the people into nine sections and dispatched them into nine different areas. Under his leadership, the flood water flowed into the sea through nine newly-dredged rivers. Over a decade's arduous works finally witnessed the victory of fighting against the disaster. Yu the Great thenceforth became the personification of selfless devotion and perseverance in the history of Chinese civilization with the story that "three times he passed the door of his house without going in" passing by.

After Yu the Great had the flood under control and united the tribal alliances, he passed the throne to his son - Qi, who established the first slave state Xia in China's history. Due to this reason, history books also call him Xia Yu.