Hebo

The Yellow River has also been one of the major agricultural sources for irrigation of farms that have provided for the dietary needs of the population at least from the cradle of Chinese civilization through the present day.

In the Chu Ci • Heavenly Questions, it is recorded: "The Emperor sent Hou Yi to reform the people of Xia.

Reflecting the personification of the Yellow River, Hebo has been regarded as benevolent, but also greedy, unpredictable, and dangerously destructive.

[5] The Jin scholar Guo Pu commented that early illustrations depicted Hebo on his chariot—pulled by two dragons through the clouds—riding in all directions.

[5] Some early accounts—such as the Shizi wherein he bestowed the River Diagram to Yu the Great—describes Hebo as having a white face of a human with the body of a fish.

A chapter of the Zhuangzi mentions Hebo visiting the northern sea, where Ruo—the God of the Sea—resides, beginning with the following: The time of the autumn floods came, and the hundred streams poured into the Yellow River.

In the past, I heard men belittling the learning of Confucius and making light of the righteousness of Bo Yi, though I never believed them.

"[8]The Yellow River is believed to have originated at the mythological Mount Kunlun, leading to a cult to Hebo within the ancient states of northwestern and central China before spreading southward.

[10] Animals as well as humans have been drowned in the river as sacrifices, including young women destined to become the god's wives.

[5] The oracle bone inscriptions provide solid evidence of the sacrificial worship of Hebo during the Shang dynasty.

[14] The Zhuangzi stated that the wu-shamans and zhu-priests—who were in charge of the rituals—considered oxen with white foreheads, pigs with turned-up snouts, and humans with piles as unsuitable for offerings.

[15] Hebo is one of the main characters in the cast of Jiu Ge, the Nine Songs, a work anthologized in the ancient poetic source Chu Ci.