li erlang/libing

Another renowned hero from the land of the Shu is Li Bing. A magistrate in the region in the third century B.C., he cleansed the country by digging through a mountain to make a passage for the waters of a river so that they irrigated the plain instead of flooding it. Furthermore, he tames a water monster and himself becomes a god of the waters. The god of the confluence of two rivers near Chengdu each year demanded the sacrifice of two girls whom he made his wives. Li Bing takes the place of one of the girls, and arriving at the sanctuary of the god, offers him something to drink; but the god slips away. A combat ensues: two water buffalo are seen fighting on the shore of the river; one of them is Li Bing, and he is losing the fight. He indicates to his soldiers how they may recognize the enemy buffalo, and they kill it with their arrows. Li Bing thus became the god of the waters at Kuan-hien. Before his temple stands a stone ox who protects him from the waters (it is a common practice to erect a stone or bronze ox on the shore of a river or lake). Under the Song, Li Bing was associated with another divinity who was taken to be his own son. Legend attributes to him the merit of having slain the buffalo-dragon against which his father had fought in the river. He became a popular divinity in every province, and is represented as a young hunter accompanied by his dog.


Asian mythologies-Wendy Doniger, Yves Bonnefoy