Yi and Ji

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

4.4

Word count: 930 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

The Di said, "Come, Yu! You too should offer your good words." Yu bowed and said, "Ah! Di, what can I say? I think only of daily diligence." Gao Yao said, "Oh! How so?" Yu said, "The flood waters reached the heavens, vast and swelling, embracing the mountains and overtopping the hills, so that the people below were bewildered and sunk. I rode four conveyances, followed the mountains and cut down trees, and with Yi presented the people with fresh food. I opened the nine rivers and led them to the four seas, and dredged the ditches and channels and led them to the rivers; with Ji I sowed grain and presented the people with hard-won food and fresh food. We promoted exchange of what was and was not available and transformed goods for storage. Thus the people were settled and the myriad states were well governed." Gao Yao said, "Yes! Follow your good words."

Editor's review

Yiji immediately follows Gao Yao Mo and records Yu's account of his achievements in controlling the waters and his experience in assisting governance; it is one of the more narrative chapters in the Yu Shu of the Shangshu. Yu recounts how, when "the flood waters reached the heavens," he rode four conveyances, followed the mountains and cut down trees, opened the nine rivers and led them to the four seas, and worked with Yi and Ji to solve the people's food and clothing and to circulate goods; the writing is concise and vivid, making it an important text for understanding the legend of Yu controlling the waters and economic life in high antiquity. At the end, Gao Yao praises Yu's "good words," echoing the preceding chapter's theme of discussing governance. This Bashu Shushe edition is convenient for studying the single chapter. Readers may use Yu's oral account to appreciate how the ancients incorporated flood control, agriculture, and commerce into the framework of state governance, and may also note the early ideas of exchange reflected in the line "promoted exchange of what was and was not available and transformed goods for storage." Reading it together with Gao Yao Mo is recommended to grasp the overall structure of ruler-minister discussion of governance in the Yu Shu.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University students in Chinese literature and history studying the Shangshu text and ancient history
Readers interested in the legend of Yu controlling the waters and economic life in pre-Qin times
Teachers and reading-group leaders who need a single classical text for teaching or discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a complete Yu story and preferring continuous, plot-driven narrative
Readers with no experience of classical Chinese who are unwilling to use annotations

Reading tips

First use the annotations to clarify the specific meanings of terms such as "four conveyances," "cutting down trees," and "leading them to the four seas"
Extract Yu's account into three separate matters—flood control, agriculture, and trade—and sort out the logic of governance
Read it together with Gao Yao Mo and compare the emphases and echoes of ruler-minister dialogue in the two chapters

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
虞书·益稷第五

FAQ

What is the relationship between the title Yiji and the content?

The chapter mainly records how Yu, together with Yi and Ji, assisted in controlling the waters and soil and solving the people's food supply. Later generations took the names of the two assistant ministers Yi and Ji as the chapter title, while the actual content is mainly Yu's exposition; it belongs to the Yu Shu of the Shangshu.

What achievements does Yu mainly recount in the chapter?

Yu recounts that when the flood waters reached the heavens, he rode four kinds of conveyances, followed the mountains and cut wood to open roads, and together with Yi solved the people's food problem; he also dredged the nine rivers to make them flow into the sea and dug ditches and channels to make them flow into the rivers, sowed grain together with Ji, and regulated scarcity and abundance and circulated goods, so that the people were settled and the myriad states were governed.

Does reading Yiji help in understanding ancient history?

Yes. The chapter preserves early memories of flood-control methods, conveyances, agriculture, and exchange activities. Although edited by later hands, it can still serve as a reference text for understanding concepts of state governance and economic life in high antiquity, though it should not be equated with a reliable historical record.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.