There are two famous mountains in China, Taihang Mountain near Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Henan Provinces and Wangwu Mountain in Jiyuan City, Henan Province. The two steep mountains tower into the sky, their peaks rising one just as high as the other. Even agile monkeys fear to climb them. However, people may not know that these two grand mountains, which seem so eternal, were not there originally at all. In fact, they first stood to the south of Jizhou and to the north of Heyang, and extended over 350 km in all directions. Why and how did they move?
Legend has it that long ago, an elder called “Yu Gong” lived on the lofty and precipitous peaks. The gate of his house faced the two high mountains. This elderly grey-haired man was nearly 90 years old, but he was extremely hale and hearty. He and his neighbors had lived in the mountains for generations. They began work at sunrise and went to bed at sunset. Without any disturbance from any other man or beast, they lived an easy and happy life. However, the two mountains always blocked their way. It would take two or even three days to cross the mountain to go to another place. An idea slowly started to form in the mind of Yu Gong.
Early one morning, the sun rose slowly and the vast shapes of the mountains gradually swam into view. Yu Gong called in all his family members for a family meeting. Nobody knew what had happened. The grey-haired Yu Gong walked out in high spirits and looked at everybody with a smile on his face. Pointing at the mountains that surrounded them, he said, “You see, these two mountains block our way completely. We have to walk a very long way to go anywhere. So, it would be better to move the two mountains away wouldn’t it?” The others looked at each other in astonishment. After thinking about it though, the idea seemed much more reasonable and they agreed to take on the job. “It will be worth moving the two mountains because then we will be able to reach the south of Yuzhou and the north of the Han River. It will be much more convenient for us to travel!” Of course, the little grandson of Yu Gong was the happiest. He gamboled about and was in a state of great excitement.
However, the wife of Yu Gong couldn’t understand it at all. She threw cold water on the mounting enthusiasm, “Old man, don’t talk such rubbish in front of the children. These are two high mountains -not a little pile of stones.” Yu Gong smiled. His wife thought she had persuaded him and continued, “An old man like you cannot even move a small hill, to say nothing of two high mountains. Moreover, generations of our family have lived here and we are used to it. I have never heard anyone talk before about moving the mountains. You are old and I think your mind must be going.”
The elder smoothed out his long white beard with his fingers and shook his head disapprovingly, “Yes, my good woman we are already three parts dead“, he said “But our children are young. They should be able to live a more convenient life and should be able to easily go out to see the outside world!”
The others were moved by the words of the old man. They all responded enthusiastically. Then a new problem arose: where should the mountains be moved to? One had to be careful when forming a new mountain in a new place. After some discussion, they finally decided to move the mountains to the Bohai Sea. In this way, the mountains would be moved and the sea filled.
Thus the project of moving the two mountains began. The whole family embraced the project in high spirits. Some dug up the earth, some put the mud into bags and some transported it.…They were working busily and happily. Their songs rang out in the air, easing the pressure of the physical exertion. Even the birds on the mountains seemed to be spreading the news with their songs.
The busy working scene attracted the children of neighboring families to see what was going on. Infected by enthusiasm for this unique project, they came to help the family of Yu Gong. They worked vigorously and their rosy faces were soon stained with earth, arousing laughter from all who saw them.
Of course, the work was extremely hard. They first dug stones and earth and then put them in baskets to be transported. The sons of Yu Gong worked hardest. They had to transport the stones and mud to the Bohai Sea. When they set out, the azaleas were in full blossom, but when they reached the Bohai Sea, it was snowing.
An old Hequ neighbor called Zhi Sou couldn’t bear to see Yu Gong working so hard on such a ridiculous project. He went over to try to persuade him to rest. “My elder brother, you’d better have a rest and stop fishing in the air. You are an old man - you should enjoy your twilight years instead of digging up mountains!”
Yu Gong put down his heavy shoulder pole and wiped the sweat from his brow and said to Zhi Sou, “You are shortsighted and not as brave as these children. I’m old and I can’t move the mountain alone. Look, my sons can continue my work after my death. When my sons die, my grandchildren will continue. So generations after generations, there’s no end. We will continue the work. The mountains will never grow higher. Do you still think I can’t move them away?”With that, he hoisted up his shoulder pole and continued with his work. Zhi Sou opened his mouth and shook his head again and again, so shocked was he by Yu Gong’s words.
It so happened that the conversation between Yu Gong and Zhi Sou was heard by the God of the Mountain and the God of the Sea who were passing by. Seeing Yu Gong’s determination, they were quite taken aback: if things went on like this, the mountains would indeed be moved and the Bohai Sea filled. That would be a very serious matter. They hurried to report to the God of Heaven.
The God of Heaven was very surprised at this news and couldn’t believe that there could be such a stubborn old man in the world. However, he admired him too and was moved by his single-mindedness. He decided to help Yu Gong. He sent the two giant sons of the immense God Kua E there. They carried one mountain each with hardly any effort at all and placed one of them to the east of Shuofang and the other to the south of Yongzhou. From that time on, the two mountains stood in different places and before the gate of Yu Gong’s house, there was nothing but a wide expanse of flat land.
