Ancient China · Ruler

Yao 堯

Dates uncertain

Passages: 47
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Yao as a ruler. This record brings together 47 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Yao	堯	Yao
Title	Emperor Yao	帝堯	Di Yao
Personal name	Fangxun	放勳	Fangxun
Personal name	Fangxun	放勛	Fangxun
Personal name	Yao	堯	Yao

Identity

Historicity: Legendary
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:001:s0057

Roles

Ruler

Life and dates

Death

Explicit · shiji:001:s0144, shiji:001:s0151

Attested activity

Qualitative: legendary antiquity
Explicit · shiji:001:s0290, shiji:001:s0057, shiji:001:s0119, shiji:001:s0168

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Child of Chenfeng consort of Emperor Ku (陳鋒氏女)
Kinship Term: bore / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Child of Emperor Ku (帝嚳)
Kinship Term: fathered / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Dan Zhu (丹朱)
Kinship Term: heir son / 嗣子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Elder daughter of Yao (堯長女)
Kinship Term: two daughters / 二女 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: daughter
Parent of Younger daughter of Yao (堯次女)
Kinship Term: two daughters / 二女 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: daughter
Sibling of Zhi (摯)
Kinship Term: younger brother / 弟 · Shared Parentage: paternal-half · Subject Relative Age: younger · Subject Role: younger brother · Object Role: elder brother

Kinship Role: sons · Count: 9
Explicit · shiji:001:s0169, shiji:001:s0172

Career and standing

Explicit · shiji:001:s0290

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · shiji:001:s0085, shiji:001:s0087, shiji:001:s0088, shiji:001:s0089, shiji:001:s0091, shiji:001:s0092, shiji:001:s0094, shiji:001:s0098, shiji:001:s0099, shiji:001:s0101, shiji:001:s0103, shiji:001:s0104, shiji:001:s0107, shiji:001:s0114, shiji:001:s0115, shiji:001:s0150

Source notes

Historicity: legendary
Explicit · shiji:001:s0290
From: Fangxun / 放勳 · To: Emperor Yao / 帝堯
Explicit · shiji:001:s0290, shiji:001:s0057

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 1Annals of the Five Emperors · 47 passages

帝嚳娶陳鋒氏女，生放勛。 Emperor Ku took a Chenfeng woman to wife and she bore Fangxun.

而弟放勳立，是爲帝堯。 His younger brother Fangxun then took the throne; this was Emperor Yao.

帝堯者，放勳。 Emperor Yao's personal name was Fangxun.

堯曰：「誰可順此事？」 Yao asked, “Who can be charged with these affairs?”

堯曰：「吁！ Yao sighed, “Ah!

堯又曰：「誰可者？」 Yao asked again, “Who then is fit?”

堯曰：「共工善言，其用僻，似恭漫天，不可。」 Yao replied, “Gonggong talks fair but acts crooked; he feigns reverence while scorning heaven—he is unfit.”

堯又曰：「嗟，四嶽，湯湯洪水滔天，浩浩懷山襄陵，下民其憂，有能使治者？」 Yao cried, “O Four Peaks, the deluge rolls to the very sky; it swallows hills and clasps ridges, and the people below lament—who can be sent to tame it?”

堯曰：「鯀負命毀族，不可。」 Yao said, “Gun defies orders and shames his clan; he will not do.”

堯於是聽嶽用鯀。 Yao yielded to the Peaks and gave Gun the work.

堯曰：「嗟！ Yao said, “Ah!

堯曰：「悉舉貴戚及疏遠隱匿者。」 Yao said, “Search out everyone, near kin or far, known or hidden.”

眾皆言於堯曰：「有矜在民閒，曰虞舜。」 The assembly told Yao, “Among the commoners there is a bachelor named Shun of Yu.”

堯曰：「然，朕聞之。 Yao said, “I have heard of him.

堯曰：「吾其試哉。」 Yao said, “Then I shall test him.”

於是堯妻之二女，觀其德於二女。 Yao therefore married his two daughters to Shun to see how he treated them.

堯善之，乃使舜慎和五典，五典能從。 Pleased with Shun, Yao set him to put the five relationships in order, and they fell into harmony.

堯使舜入山林川澤，暴風雷雨，舜行不迷。 Yao sent him into hills and marshes in howling wind and driving rain; Shun never lost his way.

堯以為聖，召舜曰：「女謀事至而言可績，三年矣。 Seeing his sagacity, Yao called Shun and said, “For three years you have planned the work of state, and every word you spoke has borne fruit.

文祖者，堯大祖也。 Wenzu was the temple of Yao’s supreme ancestor.

於是帝堯老，命舜攝行天子之政，以觀天命。 Yao had grown old, so he ordered Shun to act as regent and govern as Son of Heaven while Heaven’s mandate was observed.

讙兜進言共工，堯曰不可而試之工師，共工果淫辟。 Huan Dou praised Gonggong; Yao refused the post but still tested him as minister of works, and Gonggong proved wanton and corrupt.

四嶽舉鯀治鴻水，堯以為不可，嶽彊請試之，試之而無功，故百姓不便。 The Four Peaks urged Gun to master the flood; Yao doubted him, yet at their insistence gave him trial; Gun failed, and the people suffered for it.

於是舜歸而言於帝，請流共工於幽陵，以變北狄； Shun then reported to Yao and asked to exile Gonggong to Youling to chasten the northern Di.

堯立七十年得舜，二十年而老，令舜攝行天子之政，薦之於天。 Seventy years Yao reigned before he found Shun; twenty years later, enfeebled, he made Shun regent and commended him to heaven.

堯辟位凡二十八年而崩。 Twenty-eight years after yielding the throne Yao died.

三年，四方莫舉樂，以思堯。 For three years no music sounded within the four seas, so deep was the grief for Yao.

堯知子丹朱之不肖，不足授天下，於是乃權授舜。 Yao knew his son Dan Zhu was unworthy and could not receive the realm, so he weighed the matter and transferred the mandate to Shun.

堯曰：「終不以天下之病而利一人」，而卒授舜以天下。 Yao declared, “I will never harm the myriad people for one man’s sake,” and in the end he ceded the empire to Shun.

堯崩，三年之喪畢，舜讓辟丹朱於南河之南。 After Yao’s death and the three years’ mourning, Shun yielded the throne to Dan Zhu south of the southern river.

三十而帝堯問可用者，四嶽咸薦虞舜，曰可。 At thirty, when Yao asked for worthy men, the Four Peaks together named Shun of Yu.

於是堯乃以二女妻舜以觀其內，使九男與處以觀其外。 Yao therefore married his two daughters to watch Shun’s inner life and sent nine sons to live with him and watch his outer conduct.

堯二女不敢以貴驕事舜親戚，甚有婦道。 The two princesses never flaunted their rank over Shun’s family but kept every wifely duty.

堯九男皆益篤。 Yao’s nine sons grew steadier under Shun’s influence.

堯乃賜舜絺衣，與琴，為筑倉廩，予牛羊。 Yao then gifted him fine cloth and a zither, built granaries for him, and presented oxen and sheep.

象與其父母分，於是曰：「舜妻堯二女，與琴，象取之。 Xiang divided the booty with his parents, saying, “Shun’s wives, Yao’s daughters, and his zither belong to me.

於是堯乃試舜五典百官，皆治。 Yao then tested Shun with the five relationships and every bureau—everything thrived.

至於堯，堯未能舉。 Yet even under Yao they had not been promoted.

至于堯，堯未能去。 Even Yao could not uproot them.

舜入于大麓，烈風雷雨不迷，堯乃知舜之足授天下。 Shun walked the great moor in gales and thunder and never lost his way; Yao knew he could receive the mandate.

堯老，使舜攝行天子政，巡狩。 When Yao grew feeble he made Shun regent and sent him to tour the realm.

舜得舉用事二十年，而堯使攝政。 Twenty years Shun held office before Yao named him regent.

攝政八年而堯崩。 Eight years as regent, then Yao died.

而禹、皋陶、契、后稷、伯夷、夔、龍、倕、益、彭祖自堯時而皆舉用，未有分職。 Yu, Gao Yao, Qi, Hou Ji, Boyi, Kui, Long, Chui, Yi, and Peng Zu had served since Yao’s day without fixed portfolios.

於是舜乃至於文祖，謀于四嶽，辟四門，明通四方耳目，命十二牧論帝德，行厚德，遠佞人，則蠻夷率服。 Shun entered Wenzu, spoke with the Four Peaks, opened the four gates, sharpened sight and hearing across the realm, ordered the twelve pastors to expound Yao’s virtue, spread deep kindness, drive off sycophants—and the wild tribes submitted.

舜謂四嶽曰：「有能奮庸美堯之事者，使居官相事？」 Shun asked the Four Peaks, “Who can carry on Yao’s work with zeal and serve as minister?”

皆曰：「伯禹為司空，可美帝功。」 All answered, “Lord Yu as Minister of Works can finish what Yao began.”