East of Kunming Lake, near the 17-Arch Bridge stands a Bronze Ox, it was made in 1755 to control flood.
It is a life-sized Ox with inscriptions on its back, the inscriptions were written by Emperor Qianlong.
Legend has it when Yu, the great emperor was in power about 4,000 years ago, the whole country was liable to floods, so he was busy controlling the flood.
Wherever flood was brought under control, an iron Ox would be put into the riverbed to prevent the flood. Later, for some reasons, people placed it by the bank of the river.
That’s why you see the Bronze Ox here, it stands here to guard the flood from the Kunming Lake.