# China's Great Flood



## Brian G Turner (Aug 5, 2016)

The BBC reports on archaeological evidence of a megaflood in China around 1900BC, and how it connects with the legend of Emperor Yu in founding Chinese civilisation:
Rocks tell story of China's great flood - BBC News


> Writing in Science Magazine, the researchers describe a cataclysmic event in which a huge dam, dumped across the Jishi Gorge by a landslide, blocked the Yellow River for six to nine months.
> 
> When the dam burst, up to 16 cubic kilometres of water inundated the lowlands downstream.
> 
> The sediments from this outburst flood are up to 20m thick and up to 50m higher than the Yellow River - indicating an unprecedented, devastating flood.



Also:



> Among the world's various flood myths, Prof Montgomery said, Emperor Yu's story is an odd one.
> 
> "It's not about surviving. His basic story is about draining the flood waters; it's about river engineering."
> 
> ...


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