Kuafu 夸父
Kuāfù
A giant runs after the setting sun, leaving shade and peach trees for those who follow him.
- Chinese name
- 夸父
- Pinyin
- Kuāfù
- Best known for
- 夸父追日
- Reading level
- HSK 4 recommended
Who is Kuafu?
Kuafu is the giant remembered for chasing the sun. His story moves from an extraordinary pursuit to an overwhelming thirst: even great rivers cannot satisfy him. In the Overseas Northern Classic, he dies before reaching more water, and his abandoned staff becomes a forest.
The pursuit, the rivers, and the staff
Follow the traditional account and the details that distinguish it from later retellings.
The source account
The Overseas Northern Classic in the Shanhaijing describes Kuafu racing with the sun. When he grows thirsty, he drinks from the Yellow and Wei rivers. They are not enough, so he heads north toward a great body of water. He dies of thirst on the way.
Reading the details
The passage ends with a transformation: his abandoned staff becomes Denglin, a forest. It does not give him a final speech explaining what future travelers should learn. The spare ending is part of what makes the image so striking.
Names to distinguish
The Great Wilderness Northern Classic preserves other material: it describes the pursuit and thirst, but also says that Yinglong killed Kuafu. These accounts should be read as different source traditions, rather than combined into one seamless sequence.
How to say 夸父追日
夸父 is Kuāfù in Mandarin: kuā has a first tone and fù a fourth tone. English texts may write Kuafu or Kua Fu. Treat 夸父 as a name; translating its characters separately does not explain who he is.
夸父追日 (Kuāfù zhuī rì) means “Kuafu chases the sun.” 追 is to chase, and 日 means sun here. A related title is 夸父逐日 (Kuāfù zhú rì), using 逐 for the pursuit. These titles describe the central action, rather than the reason he begins it.
Kuafu, Hou Yi, and Jingwei
Kuafu pursues the sun; Hou Yi shoots at suns. Their stories both use the sun as an immense force, but the heroes, actions, and outcomes differ. A picture of a hero reaching toward the sun therefore needs different context from a picture of an archer aiming at it.
Jingwei offers another useful comparison for readers: a small bird repeatedly carries material to a vast sea. With Kuafu, watch the change from running to seeking water. With Jingwei, watch the repeated carrying. Those concrete verbs help distinguish the stories before considering interpretations of ambition or persistence.
Meet Kuafu
in Chinese.
A short excerpt from Kuafu Chases the Sun, with character-aligned pinyin.
Kuafu was a giant of enormous stature.
He saw the sun set every day and could not understand why.
夸父是一个身材高大的巨人。
他看到太阳每天落下，心里很不明白。
Traditional accounts vary across texts and periods. This guide distinguishes its source from later adaptations.
Questions about Kuafu
Names, source traditions, and the details behind the story.
Does Kuafu catch the sun?
The Overseas Northern Classic describes his pursuit and fatal thirst. It does not end with him capturing the sun or bringing it home.
What happens to Kuafu’s staff?
In the Overseas Northern Classic, the abandoned staff becomes Denglin, a forest. The transformation belongs to the myth, not to a historical account of how forests grow.
Is Kuafu the archer who shoots down nine suns?
No. The archer in that familiar story is Hou Yi. Kuafu is known for pursuing the sun.