The Origin of the Legend of Nüba and the Agricultural Memory in the Myth of Hanba, the Drought Demon

The legend of Nüba is a well-known drought-goddess story in ancient Chinese mythology. According to tradition, Nüba was a daughter of the Yellow Emperor, and she first appears in ancient texts such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas. She wore blue-green garments and possessed the power of drought and heat, so folk tradition also called her Hanba, the drought demon.

The legend tells that in the Battle of Zhuolu between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou, Chiyou summoned the Wind Earl and the Rain Master to call up wind and rain, so the Yellow Emperor sent Nüba down to the mortal world to aid him. As soon as Nüba arrived, the wind and rain stopped at once, and the Yellow Emperor was able to defeat Chiyou. Yet her divine power was exhausted in the process, and she could never return to heaven again; wherever she lingered, not a drop of rain fell from then on, and the fields cracked dry.

Because drought struck wherever she went, Nüba was unwelcome everywhere. It is said that Shujun, the Ancestor of Fields, advised the Yellow Emperor to settle her north of the Red Water; when farmers longed for rain, they would call out toward the north, "Spirit, go north," and first clear the waterways and ditches, praying for the drought demon to leave quickly. In later ages, the image of Nüba gradually merged with that of Hanba, the drought demon, becoming a byword for drought.

In the ancient farming society that depended on the heavens for its harvest, whenever a severe drought occurred, some places would hold folk activities to drive out the drought demon, such as making straw effigies and burning incense to pray for rain, expressing farmers' hopes for water and relief from disaster. These customs carried the superstitious flavor of older times, yet they truly reflected the helplessness of the ancients in the face of drought and their simple longing for favorable weather.

Today people have come to understand that drought is the result of climatic conditions and water-conservancy conditions working together, and has no connection with mythological legend. But as an ancient legacy of farming culture, the legend of Nüba still appears frequently in literature, film, television and game creation, and it also reminds later generations to value the construction of farmland water conservancy and to fight drought and secure the harvest.