Feather Mountain

{{short description|Mountain in Chinese myth}}

Feather Mountain ({{CJKV|t=羽山|s=羽山|p=Yǔshān}}) is one of many important mythological mountains in Chinese mythology, particularly associated with the Great Flood. According to the mythological studies of Lihui Yang, Gun was executed on the "outskirts" of Feather Mountain by Zhu Rong, either for stealing the xirang or for failing to control the flood waters.{{cite book|last1=Yang|first1=Lihui|last2=Turner|first2=Deming An, with Jessica Anderson|title=Handbook of Chinese mythology|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-533263-6}} According to K. C. Wu, Emperor Shun exiled Gun to Feather Mountain for lèse-majesté, but that Gun was not executed; and, rather, that such accounts result from misunderstanding the meanings associated with the ancient Chinese character jí (殛), which appears in certain source works.{{cite book|last1=Wu|first1=K. C.|title=The Chinese heritage|date=1981|publisher=Crown|location=New York|isbn=0-517-54475X|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chineseheritage00wuku/page/86 86; 105, note 109]|edition=1.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/chineseheritage00wuku/page/86}}

Anthony Christie relays the following three mythic story versions: that on Yushan, Gun was either killed by Zhu Rong, torn into pieces by tortoises and owls, or else that his lifeless-seeming body lay there for three years before being slashed open at the belly with the Wu sword, after which his son Yu emerged as a winged dragon and Gun himself metamorphosed into a yellow bear.{{cite book|last1=Christie|first1=Anthony|title=Chinese mythology|date=1975|publisher=Hamlyn|location=London|isbn=0600006379|pages=87|edition=3rd impression.}} According to Zuozhuan, Gun falls into an abyss called Yuyuan ({{zh|s=羽渊 |p=yúyuān}}) after becoming a bear. James Legge (1872), The Ch'un Ts'ew, with the Tso Chuen, The Chinese Classics V, London: Trübner, Part 2 (books 9–12). Revised edition (1893), London: Oxford University Press.