Most scholars consider Zhou Chu's story of eliminating the three scourges—killing a flood-dragon and a man-eating tiger, as well as reforming himself—to be well-nigh impossible. In particular, the story of his moral transformation and his learning from someone over two decades his junior still remains a point at debate. It is not my intent in this study to argue for its truthfulness. What I argue is that the evidence presented by the historical and modern scholars on both sides has failed to provide satisfactory explanation. They have also failed to draw upon the information available through the writings of both Lu Ji and Lu Yun. Thus, we need not only to reinvestigate the source materials discussed by scholars, but also to closely analyze and draw upon the evidence implicitly shown in the poetic correspondence between Lu Ji and Lu Yun. In this study, I argue that there is simply not enough evidence to dismiss it as a myth, and that the literary works of Lu Ji and Lu Yun must be taken into serious consideration while examining the legend of Zhou Chu's self-reformation included in the Shishuo xinyu and his Jin shu biography.

中文翻译：

---

三灾与周楚

大多数学者认为，周楚的灭三灾——蛟龙食人虎，以及改造自己——的故事几乎是不可能的。特别是，他的道德转变的故事以及他向比他小辈的人学习了二十多年的故事仍然是一个争论的焦点。在这项研究中，我无意为其真实性辩护。我认为，双方的历史和现代学者所提出的证据都未能提供令人满意的解释。他们也未能从陆机和陆云的著作中获得信息。因此，我们不仅需要重新审视学者们所讨论的原始材料，还需要仔细分析和借鉴陆机与陆云诗意对应中隐含的证据。