The Great Flood of China (Traditional Chinese:大洪水; Simplified Chinese:大洪水; Pinyin: Dà​ Hóng​shuǐ) (also known as the Gun-Yu myth) was a major flood event that continued for at least two generations, which resulted in great population displacements among other disasters, such as storms and famine: according to mythological and historical sources, it is traditionally dated to the Third Millennium, BCE, during the reign of the Emperor Yao. Treated either historically or mythologically, the story of the Great Flood and the heroic attempts of the various human characters to control it and to abate the disaster is a narrative fundamental to Chinese culture. Among other things, the Great Flood of China is key to understanding the history of the founding of both the Xia Dynasty and the Zhou Dynast