Yu Gong

Yu Gong (chin .: 愚公 yú gōng; "foolish age ") is the main character of a Chinese parable from the Daoist classic Liezi (4th century AD). The proverb "Yu Gong moves mountains" (愚公移山 yú gōng yí shān) was later reinterpreted by Mao Zedong in the sense of the fight against imperialism and feudalism .

The book Liezi tells: In the Northern Mountains there lived an old man named Yu Gong, who saw the road that led from his house to the south blocked by two large mountains. He decided to remove these mountains together with his sons. Another old man named Zhi Sou (智叟 " Wise Old Man" ) laughed at him and told him that it was impossible to move two mountains that big with so few people.

Yu Gong replied:

“ If I die too, my son will still be alive. My son is fathering grandchildren again, the grandchildren are fathering sons again, their sons have sons again, and their sons have grandchildren again. So the families of sons and grandchildren go on in inexhaustible succession. But nothing is added to the mountain. So why should it be too hard to remove? "

Yu Gong eagerly set about removing the mountains. This touched the Heavenly Emperor, and he sent two gods to carry the mountains away and thus clear the way to the south.

Mao Zedong mentioned this story in his closing address at the 7th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on June 11, 1945 in Yan'an . Comparing the two mountains to the imperialism and feudalism that weighed on the Chinese people, he continued:

“ The Chinese Communist Party has long been determined to remove these two mountains. We must persist in our resolve, we must work tirelessly, and we will stir the Godhead too; and this deity is none other than the masses of China. "

The parable was later included in the 21st chapter of the Mao Bible . "Yu Gong moves mountains" has become a widespread slogan of the Chinese Cultural Revolution .

literature

Cai Yunhui: Yu Gong Removed the Mountains . Dolphin Books, China 2005, ISBN 7-80138-567-5 .

Web links

Yu Gong moves mountains (Radio China International)

Individual evidence

↑ On the dating cf. Wolfgang Bauer: History of Chinese Philosophy, Munich 2001, p. 154.
^ Translation by Richard Wilhelm, in: Liä Dsi, The true book from the source of the source, Book V, Chapter 3 ("Faith that moves mountains") [1]
↑ Barbara Mittler: "From crazy old men who wanted to move mountains", in: Angelos Chaniotis et al. (Ed.): Persuasion strategies , Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2009, p. 37–60, here: p. 38. ISBN 978- 3-540-88646-4

[1] On the dating cf. Wolfgang Bauer: History of Chinese Philosophy, Munich 2001, p. 154.

[2] Translation by Richard Wilhelm, in: Liä Dsi, The true book from the source of the source, Book V, Chapter 3 ("Faith that moves mountains") [1]

[3] Barbara Mittler: "From crazy old men who wanted to move mountains", in: Angelos Chaniotis et al. (Ed.): Persuasion strategies , Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2009, p. 37–60, here: p. 38. ISBN 978- 3-540-88646-4