Great Flood of China and Nine Provinces: 大禹治水序九州

Introduction:
The Great Flood in China could be treated as the mystical story equivalent to the Epic Flood story in the Bible. Yet, this event is known to be the beginning of the first dynastic kingdom in the Far East Asia. Lots of scriptures support that this event is one of the most recognizable historical fact.
The Chinese government commissioned a multidisciplinary project known as the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project (夏商周断代工程) in 1996 to determine with accuracy the location and time frame of the ancient three dynasties. Since the time period of project is overlapping to the birth of Old Joseon(古朝鮮) which was sharing the border with China throughout long history , it is important to examine the issue based upon the ancient Chinese scriptures which the other historiographies had been extrapolated and Chinese people and around the world used to believe in. The Xian Valley is known to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. It include two prongs of valley belongs to the two river (Wei River渭水, fenshui 汾水) basins combined in the west of Hangu Pass(函谷關) . They got the salt from the Xiechi(解池) in the east of Yellow River.
The Grand Historian and The Bamboo Annals (竹書紀年) started the Annals of the Xia (夏本紀) as the beginning of Chinese history. All Chinese historiographies, though many variations of classification about the legendary leaders “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors,” have the same voice that the Great Wu (大禹 ) lived along with the Emperor Yao (堯) and Shun (舜),who abdicated throne to someone. Yet, the Shijing (詩經) didn’t have a word about the two other emperors, but only the Great Wu and recognizes the epic flood control around the mountain Liang (梁山) in the west of Hangu Pass . Shijing has the flood event(詩經 小雅: 沔水) and the character 鴻 as in (詩經 鴻雁) which is a PSMC of flood (洪水) . Confucian Scholars interpreted those two lyrics as products of King Xuan era of Zhou(周 宣王, 827/25-782 BC) along the Xian and Fenshui valley. Scriptures also have one voice that Gǔn, Count of Chóng (鯀, Gon/곤 by Korean meaning the boss or chief, 伯鯀, 崇伯) was the father of Wu the Great, the founder of the Xia dynasty. Chong bai(崇伯, literally the leader of valley(崇丘) around Chong mountain (崇山) which was in the Xian Valley, Shijing has the name of lyric (詩經 崇丘) only without a verse . The Grand Historian claimed that the Great Wu is the ancestor of Xiongnu (匈奴) who had been described with many pseudonyms and active in the northern part of China throughout the Chinese history . Some of them assimilated with Han Chinese and others ran away to the north and maintained their old custom and lifestyle. According to him, the Zhou (周) clan settled in the region where the Great Wu had resided and carried on to his descendents in the west of Hangu Pass . The people being described with the characters “ge he gi; 皆荄箕”had been living around the Xiechi (解池, 해지/heji by Korean.) They had been described with name derogatory characters; such as Xiongnu (匈奴,) Gedi(蓋狄,) Beidi (北狄) Rong (戎) who came from the western part of China and moved to the North China plain and Manchuria. Their language has been described as “hé hè or hɑ language해어; 何語 ” As all others, they sang a song. It should be remained in the Shijing . Their capital was Píngyáng (平陽;Pyongyang by Korean) which is the same phonetics of Pyongyang (平壤) in Korean peninsula. It is possible to speculate that the mystical Old Joseon emerged around the Xiechi and the legendary Great Wu could be related to the leader Dangun Wanggeom (壇君王儉) who is known as Dangun Joseon (壇君朝鮮2333-1046 BC) by Korean.
The Great Wu is the last amongst the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (三皇五帝) and founder of the Xia Dynasty. The Shang (商,殷)dynasty was flourished in the East of the Hangu Pass and had maintained many capitals throughout her territory. The 22nd king Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty (商武丁, 1250-1192) is well known earliest figure and has been confirmed by scholars. The first half of the Zhou dynasty, known as Western Zhou (西周1046–771 BC) was emerged in the west of the Hangu Pass. Eventually the Zhou clan was pushed out by the descendents of Great Wu speaking Ha language (何語) to the east the Hangu Pass. Thereafter, the name Eastern Zhou (東周;771-256 BC) had being implied upon the Zhou dynasty. The focus of discussion is to find out the capital and general boundary of the Xia dynasty by examining the ancient Chinese scriptures.

Presentation of argument:

The ancient Chinese scriptures are written with Chinese characters evolved from the original logograms and still being used for the scholars. It is the very basic tools for the further exploration. Interpretation of classic Chinese characters had been monopolized to the scholar blessed by the Chinese emperor and remained as the privilege of few scholars. They interpreted the characters to fulfill the Chinese interest throughout long history. This complex Chinese scholarly works had been remained as unchallenged. It is only one sided story and the dilemma for other scholars to study ancient history of Far East Asia.
Since the topic is the very foundation to study the written history of China, way of ancient Chinese characters being made ought to be explored.

It is written that Six Principles (六書) have been used to make the Chinese characters .
They described the “six principles” with different characters and meanings. All Chinese characters are logograms or ideographics. Each character should have specific meaning embedded in it. By dismantling many characters, it is apparent that only three principles had been used to make Chinese characters. They are xiàngxíng (象形; logograms) zhǐshì (指事;ideographic) and compound huìyì (會意; compounding both meanings). The other three principles are not the way of making characters, but the way of being used to make a sentence or phrase. They simplified those (long) sentence or phrase to make (a short) one character. Six Principles had been explained the Qun shu zhiyao (群書治要) and Reexamination of the Analects (論語注疏) which provide some evidences to extrapolate this subtle conclusion.
The xié shēng (諧聲) is a compound word. It literally means “voice (聲) of jiē /xié people or everyone’s (ge;皆) speech/word or speaking(言). According to Zheng Xuan (鄭玄;127–200), they read “ jiē /찌애 as xiè/씨애;讀皆如懈.” Tang era scholar linguist Yan Shigu (顏師古; 581–645) said; “the phonetics of old jiē gāi were same as the phonetics of jī/gei; 고개해여기음동;古皆荄與箕音同.” According to Xing Yuan ( 姓苑,) those Chinese characters are a way of describing the “sun, sunray, he/Hae;해/햇빛” which had been the most prestigious family name of Buyeo (扶餘) Goguryeo (高句麗) . They used to live around the Xiechi (解池) and left their name in the salt lake in the south western corner of Shanxi Province.

Namely jiǎjiè (假借) has been interpreted as “phonetic loan characters; PLC.” It is the word combined “deception” and from the “xī cuò xí/ formerly or ancient; 昔” people (人). Those two names are referring the same principle.

The zhuǎn zhù(轉注) has been interpreted as “derivative cognates” which is another compound words of “shift, move, turn” and “concentrate, focus, direct.” This principle has the same meaning as of huìyì (會意) which is combined two characters meaning “assemble, meet together; ”and “thought, idea, opinion; think.” It is the same as “Phono-semantic Matching Characters; PSMC”. Those three Principles are ‘Not the way making the Characters, but evolved from the use of characters’. Compounding same events written in the various scriptures under different characters are some of the evidences.

1. Family line of Wu the Great.
By considering ancient scriptures and legend, Gon (鯀) was appointed to the task of controlling the Great Flood by Emperor Yao on the advice of the Chiefs of Four Mountains, but failed. Gon was punished eventually died in exile or being killed. His son, Wu the Great was charged to stop the flood and successfully control the flood.
The Grand Historian revealed the kinship of the Wu clan. His father was Gon(鯀). His grand father, Zhuanxu Gaoyang (顓頊高陽, 전욱 고양 씨by Korea) was known to develop the first lunar calendar. They lived northern part of China and have had unique custom and language. Both his name “Yu/Wu” and his father’s name “Kun/ Gon by Korean” are the Phonetic Loan Characters (PLCs) meaning the top leader that is the King. It is very subtle to pull out this conclusion and needs some explanation. Scholars didn’t bring up the syntax of the ancient Chinese scriptures as an issue, but simply interpreted under the assumption that the scriptures were in Chinese syntax. A typical Korean syntax was found in an ancient scripture, the Liexian Zhuan (列仙傳 幼伯子) edited by Liu Xiang (劉向;77–6 BC): “幼伯子者，周蘇氏客也。冬常著單衣，盛暑著襦，形貌穢異。
後數十年更壯，時人莫知。世世來誡佑，蘇氏子孫得其福力也.”
Another one is the word of Jizi (箕子; Gija in Korean) found in the Shiji(史記 晉世家):
“且吾聞箕子見唐叔之初封，曰『其後必當大矣』”. 當 is a PLC of Dang(壇, 旦) .

It is a testament that the Korean ancestors used to live in the south western corner of Shanxi Province (山西省) which was a part of Old Zhou territory. Beside the names of Wu the Great and his father, lots of character being described at that time and places could well be PLCs of current Korean language. The Chinese character being used to describe the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang (平壤) is one example. At least three different characters had been used .

According to the Grand Historian (史記 太史公自序), his family lived around the Xiechi (解池) region for a long time. He left lots of evidences in his work that other scholars described with different characters. Followings are few examples:
He described the same phenomena with two different PLCs;
(夾右碣石入于河) to (夾右碣石入于海)
The town Xia Yang (夏陽) had been replaced to Xia yang (下陽) which replaced again with a “PSMCs; 負夏” meaning “behind or piggy back the Xia Yang”. It is apparent that “xià jiǎ / *hǎ; 하, 夏, 河, 下, 何” could be and had been replaced to “해, 亥, 奚, 諧, 解, 海”. Any of those original PLCs could be misinterpreted by others to semantic means.
Those characters were used as he describing his ancestral home land where the Ancient Chinese civilization (黃河文明) emerged. It is the same area where the salt water lake(鹽湖) commonly known as the Xiechi (解池) is in the west of Hangu Pass.
The epic story of flood and heroic achievement of the Great Wu related this region recorded as the Mountain Liang(梁山) in the Shijing. His father, Gon (鯀)constructed mighty castle not fat away from the Mountain Liang. Many scriptures stated earth quakes, blockage of water flow and collapse of Mountains Liang(梁山) and Qishan (岐山), which related to the birth of western Zhou during the era of Western Zhou around 770s BC. It was the region where Emperor Yao and Wu the Great had governed. The phonetic of “Xi as in息壤 and析城” are the PLCs same as “奚,解” which share the same phonetic of “해, sun, hài, he” by Korean. It is apparent that someone changed the character “jī to jié and made 積石 to 碣石” from the record related flood control . It is apparent that the Emperor Yao (堯) struggled to control the rain water passing through the fenshui (汾水) draining to the Yellow River for long time. It was particularly difficult near the entrance to the Yellow River, because of flat terrain and backward flow to the capital town. Wu the Great finally diverted the rain water. With his monumental achievement, he was appointed to the throne with absolute majority (天下爲公 ).
Third, as seen in the ‘Xiechi region’, good number of proper noun words were described with many PSMCs, still in use under current Korean pronunciation.
Examples are; “后土 to 後土”, “解 to 海”, and “圜土 to 玄都.”
As arguing new theory, I will annotate those names in parenthesis as ‘by Korean’.

This region left lots of mythical story, legend, and Fables including Three-legged bird (三足烏) which was described as Xuánniǎo (玄鳥) in the Shijing as a mystical bird connecting the eternal life. It appears to be the image of Sunspots (太陽黑點) was named as Xuánniǎo (玄鳥) in the sun. The characters “咸, 解, 海, 池, 澤” and “沔”are referring most likely around the Xiechi (解池) region. Character “咸” derived from/ is PSMC “鹹” meaning salt/briny.
Old phonetics of “Gon;곤 by Korean; 㱎, 鯀、、鮌, 昆” have meaning of elder or the most senior by Korean. The highest mountain in the western China was described with the same phonetics as seen in the Kunlun Mountains (崑崙山). Although the Chinese pronounce those characters as the same object, each character do have various meanings and could be interpreted differently by following the Six Principles. Xia Gon (鯀, 崇伯鯀,夏鯀) was appointed to the minister of construction work. He couldn’t achieve the goal. He was exiled to the capital of remote or secluded area (幽都 in 幽州) and punished to death in the Wu mountain(羽山). His son, the Great Wu took over his father’s work and accomplished the projects, eventually enthroned, and rearranged previous twelve towns to Nine in the west of the Hangu Pass and Taihang Mountains (太行山脈 ) where the “ 濊;huì huò wèi” people, commonly known as the main tribe of the Yemaek Joseon (濊貊朝鮮) lived . During the era of Yao Shun and Wu the Great, several others had been appointed as a minister of work. Only Xia Gon was punished, named as one of four criminals (四罪, 四凶), and put to death, because he failed to obtain the proper order (洪範 九疇, 彝倫) from the Emperor. There are few evidences that explain the order or direction from the emperor. The proper order has meaning of the “common sense ethic, common custom, social norm, or law of the nature” as being described in other scriptures. Nine Ju(九疇) means nine valley of farm land which all have unique characteristics and terrain. It is another PSMCs of Nine province(九州, 九丘) . The emperor Yao didn’t allow Xia Gon to follow their social custom and law of nature, so that Gon failed and was blamed. The place Gon(夏鯀)had been active was along the fén shuǐ (汾水) valley. The Four Criminals came from and being punished are all in the West of the Hangu Pass.

2. Story about the superintendent of works (共工)

Earliest time the title superintendent (Minister) of works (共工) is related with the ancestor (grand father) of Great Wu, and recorded with “龔工” which is another PLCs. The original logogram gōng (龔) has meaning of “many dragons (龍) or all leaders together,” so that the title (龔工) has a meaning of providing reverential (ritual) service to the God with grain representing the whole community or town state. The minister of works was called as the Ruler or Queen of the land (后土). They had a son named “勾龍 ，佐顓”, leveled Nine provinces平九土/丘/州，entitled the marquis of land (爲后土), appointed as the top of Duke (故封爲上公), and receives ritual service every year (祀以為社，祇). They were related with “lièshān (烈山氏)” where the Miǎnshui (沔水) originated or passing by. It is in the region around the northern part of Xiechi stretching to the north along the fenshui (汾水) where the King Lì (厲王) encamped and died. The phonetics of “厲;lì” is same as “麗, 歷”,which derived from the phonetics of “賴lài” as in lài town state (賴國, 賴鄉) and related with chuí (垂) who served as a minister of works also.
All those places were in the Guanzhong Plain (關中盆地) mainly around the Xiechi and stretching up through the fenshui (汾水) valley. Wu’s father (鯀,共工) fought against zhuān xù (顓頊), one of mythological emperor before the Wu Great and Yao. It could be another way of describing the fight between two political groups; one who came down from the north and settle around the Xiechi fought against southern group to control the salt lake along the north eastern parts of the fenshui valley. Many battles had been around the region such as; The Battle of Banquan (阪泉之戰, ca 2500 BC), Battle of Zhuolu (涿鹿之戰, ca 2500 BC), Battle of Dān shuǐ (丹水之浦,) and The Battle of Mingtiao(鳴條戰, ca1600 BC) between the Xia dynasty and the Shang dynasty.
Dān shuǐ (丹水) appears to be the “zhàn chén dān jiān tán jìn(湛水). Nevertheless, the winner wrote and declared the looser as Four Criminals.
There had been few persons with the title Minister of works and control the flood along the fenshui valley. They called the tamed terrain as “九土, 九共, 九丘, 九疇” which were occupied by different tribes, bordered by the creek(水絡), maintained their own family records. Later, they changed the name terrain/land to Nine Provinces(九州) and extended the boundary far more then the original tamed land. The untamed territory was described as the land /Province of Bi people (費州) . It is apparent that the “Nine Provinces means Nine Valleys” under the Village chief in each valley. The most North Eastern corner was Yōu Province ( 幽州) which is stretching from the Xiechi through the Fen River Valley. Around 2040 BC, the crown prince xiàng(相, 商; Shang/상 by Korean) of King zhòng kāng (帝仲康) went to the valley where the Mountain Shang(常山, 恒山, 商丘) sought protection from the Marquis Bi (邳). This character is also PLC as other characters such as “費, 肥, 批” has the meaning of sunray/large and controlled that region. It is the same region where emperor Shen sent his son in the past.

All the Nine Provinces (九州, 九疇; same phonetics by Korean), though almost all the Chinese scriptures exaggerated to cover vast territory including to the Yellow River and Long River(長江) tributaries, were limited to the west of the Hangu Pass. The size and boundary of Nine Provinces(九州) could be extrapolated from the Shiji;
“Zou Yan ( 鄒衍; 305-240 BC) said; What Confucian scholars are saying about the Middle Kingdom is in fact the “赤縣神州;적현신주” where Nine Provinces should have been. Though Great Wu started, it couldn’t be considered big enough to be called as a Province. Beside (so called) Nine Provinces (by Confucians) of Middle Kingdom, nine others are the same size. They are the one so called Nine Provinces. He also said; “Though Emperor Yao was wise and progressive, but couldn’t achieve the goal without Wu’s help”. As cited already in the Shijing, the Xiongnu were active around the Xiechi. The Nine Provinces had been limited to the West of Hangu Pass.

3. Story about Emperor Shun.

There is lots of contradicting story about the Emperor Shun, but could be summarized with the following two evidences found in the scriptures. Shen abdicated throne to the Great Wu who successfully managed the epic battle to control the flood:
The Grand Historian left lots of names related with the era of Shun. All the placed named are around the Xiechi (解池), west of the Hangu Pass. It said; “Shen was a man from Jizhou (冀州), had been farming in Li mountain (歷山), fishing in the ‘Thunder Lake’, making pottery so on, and died in Fuxia (負夏). The semantic translation ‘Thunder Lake; 雷澤, léi zé’ is a PSMCs of the Xiechi.

Shiji recorded Fuxia(負夏) as kuài jī (會稽) where his Pavilion had been. Wu died there.
The birth place of Shen, zhū féng (諸馮) ought to be in the Jizhou (冀州, 兾州) which has a meaning of “place of Northerners,” west of Xiechi across the Yellow river, and most likely the center of the Nine Provinces Wu developed.
Mencius said, ‘Shun was born in Zhu Feng, removed to Fu Xia(負夏), and died in Ming Tiao(鳴條). He is a man from the east. The last King of Xia, Jie (桀; 1728-1675 BC) fled to Mingtiao, was eventually driven out, and killed. Two leaders, Emperor Shun who abdicated his throne to the founding father of Xia dynasty died at the same place where the last king of Xia dynasty captured during the last battle in his life.
By analyzing the ancient scriptures, Shen was born, raised, active around the Xiechi (解池,) abdicated his throne to Wu the Great who set his capital Píngyáng (平陽) in the north shore of Xiechi and died there. The last king of his dynasty was defeated around the north shore of the Xiechi. Mingtiao (鳴條) is the same place being recorded as ān yì (安邑) meaning comfortable town, or town of Yuyì (虞邑) meaning the town of Yu Shen (虞舜). Shen had a farm in the lì shān (歷山),which Great Wu also had been. It is the same mountain ranged being described as a lìshān (麗山, 驪山) where the Li Rong tribe (驪戎) had been active and the beautiful lady Li Ji (驪姬, 驪姬之亂) came from. It is the same mountain range where the mystical shǒu yáng shān (首陽山) where legendary Boyi Shuqi (伯夷叔齊) brother had died with starvation, should have been in the western slope of mountain range. It could have at least nine peaks with all different names. It is the Taihang Mountains ( 太行山脈 ) running down the eastern Shanxi province. It is the land mark mountain range dividing east and west; Shanxi means the “Province in the west of the Mountains”. The name of Shandong Province derived from the east of the mountains.

會稽; 唐玄宗始以隸楷易《尚書》古文，今儒者不識古文自唐開元始。予見蘇頲撰《朝覲壇頌》，有乩虞氏字。 不知乩即稽字. 鄶(會，右：阝)：音檜。國名。詩•檜風註》檜，國名。高辛氏火正祝融之墟. 稽，懈也
在禹貢豫州外方之北， 卽其地也。會(huì kuài guì)：合(hé gě / gap3 hap6/ *hop)也，古作會亦州秦屬隴西郡漢分爲金城郡.
水經注 淮水: 先人自會稽遷于譙之銍縣，改為嵇氏，取稽字之上以為姓，蓋志本也

4. Battles after the Great Wu.

Many battles have been recorded in the Bamboo Annals (竹書紀年) after Great Wu till the end of his dynasty. Some of the story related to the battle would be helpful to draw the picture of the Xia Dynasty Territory.
The second ruler (啟; qǐ) of Xia dynasty enthroned in the North shore of Xiechi (帝即位于夏邑) and settled in the west of Yellow River (歸于冀都). Next year, Marquis Bi (費侯, 邳侯) left his domain and approached Xia territory. King (啟) punished Hui people(有扈), who were under the Marquis Bi, came down through the Fen River Valley, met the Xia army at the Valley of Gan, commonly known as the Valley of Han .
The place (斟鄩) where the 3rd ruler resided was around the Luòshui (洛水, 洛表) which drain to the Wei River(渭水) in the west of Hangu Pass. The fifth ruler di xiāng (帝相; shang by Korean and read same as 上, 商, 常, 尙) moved to the north along the fenshui valley from where the ancestor of Shāng dynasty(商朝) originated. The next, sixth ruler came back down to the old home town in the Valley of Han .
The 8th ruler, Di fen ( 帝芬) built yuántǔ (圜土; won원/ hwan환 by Korean). Yuántǔ was the Fùyán (傅巖; buam/부암 by Korean) where the legendary Fù yuè (傅說) was found by the Wǔding (商武丁; 1250-1192 BC). Wu Ding is the most prominent earliest figure in the Shang dynasty . It was in the west of Hangu Pass which splits the Taihang Mountains ( 太行山脈 ) running down the eastern Shanxi Province to the south westerly direction. The mountain, where the legendary Fùyuè (傅說; Buyuel/부열/부여 by Korean) was found as a slave worker, shouldn’t be too far away from the shǒu yáng shān (首陽山). Somewhere nearby, there could well be the mystical mountain known as the Fuxianshan (不咸山: Bulhamsan, 불함산 by Korean) not far away from the Sushen(肅慎, 肅愼)nation, another name of Old Joseon.

The last ruler of the Xia dynasty was born in the zhēn xín (斟鄩)that is the same place where the 3rd and 5th ruler had resided . Rong(犬戎, 畎夷) people near the Qi mountain (岐山) revolted. Most of the events having been occurred during his reign were in the west of Xiechi across the Yellow river. The battle known as the Battle of Mingtiao (鳴條戰) was the battle between the last king (桀; Jié, gul/걸 by Korean)of Xia dynasty and the Duke of Shang in the northern shore of Xiechi.
By reviewing the name of battles fields, the Xia rulers fought most of the war around the Fenshui valley and Hangu pass. They hadn’t extended beyond the Hangu Pass. The Shang tribe who had moved down from the north to the East of Taihang Mountains, settled in the Northern Plain, faced Xia dynast at the strategically important Hangu Pass, successfully defended, and built the Shang Dynasty.

Conclusion

The eastern part of Guanzhong Plain (關中盆地) where the fenshui (汾水) drains to the Yellow River was the cradle of Chinese civilization. Wu the Great primarily worked to divert the rain water in that area which was the domain of Xie (奚, 解, 契, 蓋) people under the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. The Xiechi in the eastern part of the Guanzhong Plain was the home land of jiǔ lí (九驪, 句麗) who controlled the Fenshui valley to the north. The valley was constant threat to the flood. Great Wu controlled “the epic flood” in the China and built the first dynasty in the East Asia. As the people used to living in the valley spread out over the Taihang Mountains to the east, they carried on the old names with them such as; “亳, 鄶, 首陽山, 商, 商丘, 商侯,玄都, 會稽, 冀, 邳侯, 淮夷, 濰, 九夷, 河伯,馮夷, 昆吾氏, 商侯遷于殷, 殷侯, 河伯, 畎夷、白夷、玄夷、風夷、黃夷, 殷侯復歸于商丘, 豕韋氏, 洛水” and so on. One example is the legend relating with Boyi brother. They claim that the Guzhu (孤竹國) state and shǒu yáng shān (首陽山) had located in the vicinity of modern Tangshan, Hebei province. The leader of Shang valley (商侯) in the Fenshui valley had moved down to the North China Plain, set the camp many places. Those are known as the capitals of Shang dynasty.
The battle known as the Battle of Mingtiao (鳴條戰) was the battle between the last king (桀; Jié, gul/걸 by Korean)of Xia dynasty and the Duke of Shang in the northern shore of Xiechi. The outcome of the battle is the stepping stone for the beginning of Shang Dynasty in the east of Taihang Mountains.

7/29/2016.
Dear Editor:

I understand that my manuscript doesn’t follow the current academic standard, but follow the millennia old Chinese tradition.
As you know, it is the dilemma to interpret the ancient Chinese logogram to implement studying ancient history of Far East Asia.

I submitted my manuscript for you to think about; “the current academic standard” which evolved from the western logic. To study “the ancient Chinese logogram to implement studying ancient history of Far East Asia,” scholars ought to come up with another branch of science under different paradigm. It is an open question for philosophers to find out a way to pin down the truth out of lots of contradicting statements as describing current situation by the politicians who have different ethical value.

As assessing the ancient scriptures, it is clear that the legendary flood control by Wu the Great (大禹 治水) was primarily along the Fen shui (汾水) tributaries and limited to the West of Hangu Pass (函谷關). Chinese scholars over exaggerated far beyond without considering the geographic terrain.

8/6/2016: My Comment to “First evidence of legendary China flood may rewrite history”

The legendary flood recorded in the Chinese history around the beginning of Chinese civilization is also associated with the birth of first nation for the Korean known as Dangun Joseon or Old Joseon around 2333 BC.
Throughout the world history, there had been many epic floods. The article cited one of the epic story related to the history of Far East Asia. The main actor of this historical evident is Yu the Great (大禹) whom Korean pronounce as “Wu,우” meaning the leader “high/above/on top of” which has the same semantics as of his father Gǔn (鯀, Gon/곤 by Korean).
The ancient scripture brought up this event to illustrate the ideal way of selecting a new leader (天下爲公) which refers absolute majority. The flood control was the tool to demonstrate the leadership. The son of Gon achieved the goal which his father failed.
Gon who was charged to control the flood failed and lost the land belonged to the emperor Yao, because the Emperor Yao didn’t allow Gon to follow the tradition and custom of Xiongnu, which Gon had been the leader.
Wu the Great had worked according to their custom with his people and achieve the goal His work to control flood that was to drain rain water to facilitate farming was limited to their tribal domain along the “fenshui tributary in the Shanxi province to the most eastern part of Xian Valley where the Xiechi (解池, [jiěchí] by current Beijing dialect, heji/해지 by Korean) is. This small salt water lake was the vital waterhole for the people in the west of Hangu Pass and the seed of early civilization.
Because of the elusive nature of ancient Chinese logogram, different language and syntax, the ancient scriptures have been misinterpreted. Chinese historiographies had over exaggerated the geographic region of this historic work to drain rain water. Although very limited, Korean historiographies do not have a word about the flood, but emphasized the leadership; prosperity and for the benefit of all.
The region where the group of scientist collected the sample is far remote from where the legendary Wu had worked to control rain water.
Those two events are mutually exclusive in time and place.