The Tribute of Yu is an important document for studying Chinese history while the purpose of the document changes with time. The contemporary use at the time would have been for government officials to figure out what kinds of resources they can expect as tribute and from where. If they needed ivory for example, they could collect extra tribute from the land of Yun. In modern times, the description of life around these areas and their resources serve as a way to explain the presence of certain objects in some areas. Now it can be used for archaeology but its use at the time of its creation was more direct. If modern archaeologists found elephant bones in the land of Yun where the text says elephant teeth were given as tribute, it would help validate the text as an actual government record of the time. However even if it is not completely correct in regards to physical history, the document has served another purpose.
The geography and description of the land in the Tribute of Yu has been of great assistance to emperors of past centuries. It would be used to defend the ideal that all of China should be under one state and one empire. A specific example of this is the Song dynasty. They had lost the northern part of China to non ethnic Chinese. They wanted it back very much so they reinvigorated the ideal of one united China by making many maps of the geography described in the Tribute of Yu. With these maps promulgated around the empire, the idea of unification went back into people’s minds and made the reconquest of their former land extremely important to them. Unfortunately for the Song dynasty, they were not able to retake the land but future dynasties succeeded while using the document for the same purpose of fortifying the idea of a united China. The Tribute of Yu may be a bit of a dry read on the surface but when one sees the influence it has had on history and empires, its power is undeniable.
Sources: https://archive.org/details/chineseclassics07legggoog/page/n374
