Archaeological excavations have also confirmed that several regional civilizations existed along the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, as well as the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Taihu Plain between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago.

In fact, in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), an effort had already been made to draw the Yuji Tu (Map of Traces of Yu). The one that had been engraved on a stele in 1136, and that now resides in the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, is one of the earliest extant national maps and among the most famous.

The first attempts to make the current Zhongguo Yuji Tu were in 2017, when Qiu and his collaborators set out to compile the Shaoxing Yuji Tu (Map of Traces of Yu in the city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang province), which was published in 2018 and the following year was expanded to become the Zhejiang Yuji Tu (Map of Traces of Yu in Zhejiang province). It is no coincidence that Shaoxing was the focal point, for it was to this place that Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), China's first emperor, traveled and performed sacrificial rituals for Yu the Great.

Shaoxing is also where Yu's mausoleum lies today and where the most widely heard story of his is said to have taken place.

It is said that when Yu the Great went about taming the floods, he met a member of a local clan and they married. However, a few days later Yu had to leave home to continue fighting the scourge of floods. For the next 13 years he did not set foot in his home again, even though he went by it three times.

In this time, it is said, his wife, eagerly awaiting his return month in and month out, could not help but utter in increasing frustration,"Oh, I am waiting for him." This single line, some experts say, is the first poem composed by a female writer in China.

"Yu is a cultural totem of perseverance and struggle for the Chinese nation in the face of difficulties," says Tan Xuming, head of the Water History Committee of the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society.

Over time Yuji, or the traces of Yu, have become an integral part of society and culture. "They are a moral symbol to encourage the Chinese people to bravely fight natural disasters and work together in times of trouble," Tan says. "Yu and his stories serve as a spiritual bond that has linked the Chinese people throughout history."

They do more than connect Chinese people; they have a deep influence on other East Asian countries too, Japan and South Korea in particular, where many Yuji, or traces of Yu, can be found. For example, in Japan, more than 150 such traces have been documented.

With the publication of the Chinese version of the two maps of traces of Yu in Japan and South Korea on the same day as Zhongguo Yuji Tu, a map covering the whole of East Asia is expected to be published in the near future.

"As in China, the stories of Yu have taken deep root among Japanese and Koreans," says He Junjie, director of the Shaoxing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. "The ancient sage helped with flood control during his time, and now he is helping strengthen cultural exchanges between different nations."

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