Ancient China · Legendary Sage-King

Tang 唐

Dates uncertain

Passages: 11
Chapters: 9
Histories: 7

Overview

Tang was a Legendary Sage-King.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal name	Emperor Yao	帝堯	Dì Yáo

Life and dates

Attested activity

唐、虞之世
Directly stated · History of Jin 127, passage 9
legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Han 10, passage 133; Book of Later Han 32, passage 56; History of Liao 61, passage 5; Records of the Three Kingdoms 34, passage 73; Records of the Grand Historian 74, passage 13; New History of the Five Dynasties 71, passage 1

Key source chapters

Events and relationships

Ordered Boyi and Three Lords
Political · Ruler
Directly stated · History of Liao 61, passage 5

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · History of Jin 127, passage 9; History of Liao 61, passage 5; New History of the Five Dynasties 71, passage 1
Value legendary
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 74, passage 13

References in the histories

Search passages

History

11 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 10Volume 9: Annals of Emperor Yuan · 1 passage

二年春二月，詔曰：「蓋聞唐虞象刑而民不犯，殷周法行而姦軌服。 In the second month of spring in the second year, an edict declared: 'Indeed I have heard that Tang and Yu symbolized punishments and the people did not violate, Yin and Zhou practiced laws and wicked ruffians submitted.

Book of Han, Chapter 42Volume 33: Wei Bao, Tian Dan and Hán Xin (King of Han) · 1 passage

贊曰：周室既壞，至春秋末，諸侯秏盡，而炎黃唐虞之苗裔尚猶頗有存者。 The appraisal says: After the Zhou house had collapsed, by the end of the Spring and Autumn period the feudal lords were largely exhausted, yet descendants of Yandi, Huangdi, Tang, and Yu still survived in considerable numbers.

Book of Han, Chapter 117Volume 100a: Afterword and Family History 1 · 1 passage

方今大漢洒埽群穢，夷險芟荒，廓帝紘，恢皇綱，基隆於羲、農，規廣於黃、唐； Great Han has cleansed the mire, cut the brambles, stretched the emperor's net wider than Fu Xi or Shen Nong, vaster than Huangdi or Yao;

Book of Later Han, Chapter 32Volume 28b: Biography of Feng Yan · 3 passages

欣吾黨之唐、虞兮，湣吾生之愁勤； I exult in the days of Tang and Yu; I pity this anxious life I lead;

堯、舜煥其蕩蕩兮，禹承平而革命。 Yao and Shun shone with effortless breadth; Yu took a settled age and forged a new mandate.

思唐、虞之晏晏兮，揖稷、契與為朋； I dwell on the calm of Yao and Shun's age and would take Hou Ji and Xie as my companions;

History of Jin, Chapter 127Volume 127 Biographies 65: Xiao You, Wendihanwolubu, Chen Yan, Liu Yu, Meng Xing, Wang Zhen, Liu Zheng, Yin Yi, Chu Chengliang, Wang Qufei, Zhao Zhi, Du Shisheng, Hao Tianting, Xue Jiyuan, Gao Zhongzhen, Zhang Qian, Wang Rumei, Song Ke, Xin Yuan, Wang Yuke · 1 passage

然以唐、虞之世，「黎民阻饑」不免以命稷，「百姓不親、五品不遜」不免以命契，以是知順成之不可必，猶孝友之不易得也。 Even in the age of Tang and Yu, when "the people were beset by hunger," Ji had to be put in charge of agriculture; when "the common folk were estranged and the five bonds of kinship were in disorder," Qi had to be entrusted with education — which shows that a bountiful harvest cannot be taken for granted any more than filial piety and brotherly devotion can be secured at will.

History of Liao, Chapter 61Volume 61 Treatises 31: Punishment and Law 1 · 1 passage

帝堯清問下民，乃命三後恤功於民，伯夷降典，折民惟刑，故曰刑也者，始於兵而終於禮者也。 Emperor Yao sought the people's counsel and charged the Three Lords to care for their welfare; Boyi issued the penal code and judged the people by law alone — hence the saying that punishment begins with arms and ends with ritual.

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 34Volume 34: Book of Shu 4: Biographies of Concubines and Sons of the Two Lords · 1 passage

今先主無權事之偪，而引前失以為譬，非導其君以堯、舜之道者。 Liu Bei faced no such coercion, yet Fa Zheng cited an old lapse as precedent—this was not guiding a ruler along the path of Yao and Shun.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 74Biographies of Mengzi and Xun Qing · 1 passage

天下方務於合從連衡，以攻伐為賢，而孟軻乃述唐、虞、三代之德，是以所如者不合。 The world was just striving for vertical alliances and horizontal connections, considering conquest and invasion worthy pursuits, while Meng Ke expounded the virtues of Tang, Yu, and the Three Dynasties. This is why wherever he went, he did not find agreement.

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 71Volume 71: Timeline for the Hereditary Houses of the Ten Kingdoms · 1 passage

嗚呼，堯、舜盛矣！ Alas, how magnificent were Yao and Shun!