[ **up: [[China--History]] | [[Folklore--China]]** ] --- # Yu the Great 大禹 **Dà Yǔ**. Also known as **Yu the Engineer**. [[“Legends tell us that Yü was no ordinary mortal. He had no mother and he came directly from the body of his father, Kun.”|'Legends tell us that Yü was no ordinary mortal. He had no mother and he came directly from the body of his father, Kun.']][^1] [[“When Kun was revived, he was transformed into a brown bear, and he opened up his own belly and brought out his son, Yü.”|'For three years, Yü lay inside his father’s dead body. When Kun was revived, he was transformed into a brown bear, and he opened up his own belly and brought out his son, Yü. Immediately, Yü also changed himself into a bear, and we are told that, throughout his life, Yü shape-shifted between man and bear, and always walked with a shuffle that was known as a bear’s gait.']][^2] [^1]: Eva Wong, *[[Wong. 'Taoism', 2011.|Taoism: An Essential Guide]]* (Boulder, CA: Shambhala, 2011), p. 11. [^2]: Eva Wong, *[[Wong. 'Taoism', 2011.|Taoism: An Essential Guide]]* (Boulder, CA: Shambhala, 2011), p. 12.