East
of Kunming Lake, near the 17-Arch Bridge stands a Bronze Ox, it was made in 1755 to
control flood. It is a life-sized Ox with inscriptions on its back, the inscriptions were
written by Emperor Qianlong.
Legend has it when
Yu, the great emperor was in power about 4,000 years ago, the whole country was liable to
floods, so he was busy controlling the flood.
Wherever flood was
brought under control, an iron Ox would be put into the riverbed to prevent the flood.
Later, for some reasons, people placed it by the bank of the river.
That's why you see
the Bronze Ox here, it stands here to guard the flood from the Kunming Lake. |