Thousands celebrate 4,142 birthday of Yu the Great in SW China

People attend the worship ceremony to celebrate the 4,142 birthday of Yu the Great in Beichuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province, July 21, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

Thousands of people gathered to celebrate the 4,142 birthday of Yu the Great in his birthplace in Beichuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar, which fell on July 21, 2015.

Yu the Great, a legendary hero in ancient China, is known for his great feat in controlling floods, and for his upright moral character when he later founded and ruled the Xia Dynasty (c.21st century-16th century BC).

Beichuan, birthplace of Yu, has carried the custom of holding worship ceremonies to commemorate this sage emperor and the ritual was inscribed on the second list of Sichuan provincial intangible cultural heritage in July, 2007.