And they date mostly to the fourth century B.C., long after the Jishi Gorge flood. Even if the myth was centered on a real event, it is a reach to associate this with the Jishi Gorge flood or the flood with the Erlitou culture, she said. Paul Goldin, who studies China’s Warring States period at the University of Pennsylvania, also sees the stories of Yu and the Great Flood as unlikely to represent historical events. In her view, the Great Flood described in the ancient texts is a myth to explain how the world was made, not a historical event. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyThe Jishi Gorge flood occurred at a pivotal time in Chinese history, the boundary between the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age that followed.

Source: New York Times August 04, 2016 18:19 UTC