Chinese flood myths manifest two features: a large variety of gods and the mixture of evil and good in their nature. The former reflects the frequency of floods brought by the monsoon climate, the latter mirrors the dialectical thinking of Chinese in human nature.

There are various water gods in Chinese mythology. They vary in duty and performance. All these water gods are dual in nature; none of them is all evil or all good. This is a unique feature of Chinese mythology.

In addition to Gonggong who made the floods after knocking down a pillar of the sky, the major water gods are Yinglong, the Yellow Emperor's water god and Hebo, the water god of the Yellow River.

Take Gonggong for example. He revolted against the despotic Zhuanxu, the God of the North Heaven and shook the foundation of the dictatorship. When he was defeated, he knocked down the Buzhou Mountain resulting in the collapse of the sky, but he did it only in defeat and despair. This misconduct was committed through negligence. It was done without any deliberate intention.

It is also true with Yinglong. As a major god of rain under the Yellow Emperor he performed some meritorious deeds in helping to defeat Chiyou and Gonggong. In the former case, when he rained to defeat Chiyou, he also brought flood to the people on earth.

It is the same case with Hebo, the God of the Yellow River. He helped the Great Yu to tame floods. But at the same time he loved women. He wanted to marry a young girl every year. The local people had to please him to avoid floods. This led to the evil practice of human sacrifice. There was an annual wedding ceremony to satisfy his lust. After some ritual was conducted, a beautiful young girl would be tied to the bridal bed and thrown into the river to join him.

Editor: Catherine