Ancient China · Ruler

Yao 堯

Legendary antiquity

Passages: 2
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Yao was a ruler.

Life and dates

Attested activity

legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passages 167, 171

Events and relationships

Controlled flood
Flood control · Ruler · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Li Qi (李琪)
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 167

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 167

References in the histories

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 58Volume 58 Book of Later Tang 34: Biographies 10: Zhao Guangfeng, Zheng Jue, Cui Xie, Li Qi, Xiao Qing · 2 passages

自堯湮洪水，禹作司空，於時辨九等之田，收什一之稅，其時戶一千三百餘萬，定墾地約九百二十萬頃，最為太平之盛。 From the time Yao controlled the great flood and Yu became minister of works, the fields were graded in nine classes and a tithe was collected. Household registers then numbered more than thirteen million, and reclaimed land was fixed at about nine million two hundred thousand qing—the greatest flourishing of the age of peace.

故當成、康之世，比堯、舜之朝，戶口更增二十餘萬，非他術也，蓋三代以前，皆量入以為出，計農以立軍，雖逢水旱之災，而有凶荒之備。 Thus in the age of Kings Cheng and Kang, compared with the reigns of Yao and Shun, registered households increased by more than two hundred thousand. This was no other art: before the Three Dynasties all states measured receipts to set expenditures and counted farmers to raise armies, so that even when flood or drought struck they still had stores against famine.