In the television series Stargate SG-1, Yu is portrayed as a Goa'uld System Lord. See Yu (Stargate).
Yu (often called Da Yu 大禹 "Yu the Great") was a legendary Emperor of the Xia Dynasty, occasionally identified as one of The Three August Ones and the Five Emperors. He is remembered for teaching the people flood control techniques to tame the rivers and lakes.
He is also remembered as example of perseverance and determination. Stories tell about his work in flood techniques taking such importance to him that he crossed the front of his house thrice in ten years but never went in — reasoning that a family reunion would take his time and mind away from the flood control problem.
According to historical texts, Yu died at Mount Kuaiji (south of present day Shaoxing) whilst on a hunting tour on the southern frontier of his empire, and was buried there. A number of emperors in imperial times have travelled there to perform ceremonies in his honour, notably Qin Shi Huang. A temple, Dayu Ling (大禹陵), has been built on the traditional site where the ceremonies are performed.
Before Yu's time, the title of emperor was passed to the next person considered by the community to have the highest virtue, instead from father to son. However, Yu's son, Qǐ (啟), was very capable himself and was recommended to be the next ruler of the dynasty. This became the precedent of rulership based on heredity in China.
The dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved from the ancient stage as seen in early Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, to the beginnings of the modern stage, in the form of the archaic clerical script of the late Warring States period.
In the Chinese historical tradition, the rulers of the Zhou displaced the Shang and legitimized their rule by invoking the Mandate of Heaven, the notion that the ruler (the "Son of Heaven") governed by divine right (granted by the Supreme God of Heaven) but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate.
The Zhou dynasty was founded by the Ji family and had its capital at Hào (鎬, near the present-day city of Xi'an).
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