Emperor Yao
legendary Chinese ruler, one of the Five Emperors
Emperor Yao (simplified Chinese: 尧; traditional Chinese: 堯; pinyin: Yáo; Wade–Giles: Yao2; traditionally c. 2356 – 2255 BCE) was a legendary Chinese ruler. He is considered by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Ancestry and early life
Yao's ancestral name is Yi Qi (伊祁) or Qi (祁), clan name is Taotang (陶唐), given name is Fangxun (放勳), as the second son to Emperor Ku and Qingdu (慶都). He is also known as Tang Yao (唐堯).
Yao's mother has been worshipped as the goddess Yao-mu (堯母).
Legends
According to the legend, Yao became the ruler at 20 and died at 99 when he passed his throne to Shun the Great, to whom he had given his two daughters in marriage. According to the Bamboo Annals, Yao abdicated his throne to Shun in his 73rd year of reign, and continued to live during Shun's reign for another 28 years.
It was during the reign of Emperor Yao that the Great Flood began, a flood so vast that no part of Yao's territory was spared, and both the Yellow River and the Yangtze valleys flooded. The alleged nature of the flood is shown in the following quote:
Like endless boiling water, the flood is pouring forth destruction.
The public source identifies “Emperor Yao” as legendary Chinese ruler, one of the Five Emperors. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Emperor, legendary and Chinese.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q819556. VIAF identifies the subject as 24266753. The Library of Congress control number is no2002039738. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emperor Yao” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.