Yi (husbandman)

Yi (Chinese: , Yì; fl. 2nd millennium BCE) was a culture hero in Chinese mythology who helped Shun and Yu the Great control the Great Flood; he served afterwards as a government minister and a successor as ruler of the empire. Yi is also credited with the invention of digging wells (although Shennong is also credited with this).

Yi was also known as Boyi or Bo Yi, written variously as , , , and . He was also known as Fei the Great (, Dafei).

In the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian's account of the origins of the House of Ying states that Fei the Great was the son of Ye the Great and Lady Hua. His father is given as Gao Yao, but this seems to have been a mistake of various scholars in reading the original sources.

He was eventually titled Boyi or Count Yi. Yi was appointed by Shun to assist in controlling the great flood through the controlled burn use of fire to clear the land forests, overgrowth, and marshes; and, also, to provide meat to feed the workers involved in the disaster management effort: he thus became a close companion of Yu, with whom he worked closely for thirteen years in this effort.

Then, after the successful struggle against the flood, and the subsequent reorganization of government, Yi was appointed Minister of Animal Husbandry. According to the more mythical accounts, Yi could domesticate animals and birds due to knowing their languages.

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