Yufu, the Half-Withered Fish of Zhuanxu's Return
Yufu is a fish withered on one side, born when snakes turned into fish in a flood, and tied in the Shan Hai Jing to the death and return of the ancient ruler Zhuanxu.
- Chinese name
- 鱼妇 (yúfù)
- Oldest source
- Shan Hai Jing, Great Wilderness: West
- Where it lives
- Land of the Huren
- In the game
- Water beast · 3 Gold · Back to Life
What the Shan Hai Jing says
Yufu appears in Great Wilderness: West, right after the Land of the Huren, a people descended from a grandson of the Fiery Emperor who are said to travel up and down between heaven and earth. The entry describes a fish that is withered down one side of its body, called the Yufu. It then says twice that when Zhuanxu died, he came back to life. Between the two lines it tells how the Yufu came to be: a wind blew in from the north, the sky poured out great springs of water, and snakes turned into fish.
有鱼偏枯，名曰鱼妇。颛顼死即复苏。风道北来，天乃大水泉，蛇乃化为鱼，是为鱼妇。颛顼死即复苏。
There is a fish withered on one side, called the Yufu. When Zhuanxu died, he came back to life. A wind blew from the north, the heavens poured forth great springs, and snakes turned into fish: this is the Yufu. When Zhuanxu died, he came back to life.
Who was Zhuanxu?
Zhuanxu is one of the legendary Five Emperors of early China. The Shiji, the great history by Sima Qian, names him as a grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and the Great Wilderness books of the Shan Hai Jing list many peoples and lands descended from him. His name in this short passage turns a strange fish into something larger: a sign that even a ruler of the ancient world could die and return, and that the return was tied to water, wind and transformation.
Half dead, half alive
The word the text uses for the fish, pianku, describes a body withered on one side. Early Chinese medical writing uses the same word for a person paralyzed down one side. A creature that is half withered and half living fits a story about death and revival. The passage is very short and can be read more than one way: as a fish linked to Zhuanxu's return, or as the form he came back in. The Shan Hai Jing does not decide between them, and we have not added an answer it does not give.
Yufu in our game
In Beasts of Shanhai the Yufu does what the text promises: it dies and comes back. We gave it a single return to life in every battle, with more strength each time it ranks up. The rule mirrors the passage closely: one death, one return, and no second chance after that. Like the fish in the text, it is a Water beast, and it works best when the enemy has to beat it twice.
Risen Fish in Beasts of Shanhai
In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Risen Fish is a Water beast that costs 3 Gold. Its skill is Back to Life. Last Breath: it comes back to life once, with 35% of its max HP, and has no Last Breath after that. At two stars it returns with 50%, and at three stars with 65%.
Questions
What is the Yufu?
A fish withered down one side, described in Great Wilderness: West. The text says it was born when snakes turned into fish, and links it to Zhuanxu coming back to life.
Did Zhuanxu come back to life?
The Shan Hai Jing says twice that when Zhuanxu died, he came back to life, and places the line beside the Yufu. It gives no further detail.
What does Yufu mean?
Yu means fish and fu means woman or wife, so the name can be read as "fish woman". The text does not explain the name.
More creatures
Heluoyu 何罗鱼A fish with one head and ten bodies that barks like a dog. Eating it cures boils.
Yinglong 应龙A winged dragon that stores the rains. It killed Chiyou and Kuafu and now lives at the southern pole.
Nine-Tailed Fox 九尾狐A fox with nine tails and a cry like a baby's. It eats people, and eating it keeps curses away.
Taotie 饕餮A goat-bodied beast with a human face and eyes under its arms, so greedy it eats itself.
Hundun 混沌A faceless god like a red sack, with six legs and four wings. It has no eyes, yet it knows song and dance.
Bai Ze 白泽A talking beast that knows the nature of all things. Not in the Shan Hai Jing, but often counted among its creatures.