The Demise of Yao and Shun

After Yellow emperor, there were three greatest tribe league leaders--Yao, Shun and Yu. They were all wise and sagacious and were loved by people.

Yao

Yao, named Fangxun, was the fifth generation of Yellow emperor, and in the legend, the avatar of real dragon. During his power, Yao made great efforts to seek talents and people's opinions, improved basic political system. As the head, he lived a simple life and was highly respected by people and other tribal leaders. He cared about agriculture and asked ministers to formulate a calendar according to the movement of the sun, the moon and stars, thus people could produce by season.
The most remarkable move Yao made is that he didn't take the country as his own and handed over the leadership to Shun instead of his son.
As Yao had reigned for 70 years, he was thinking about the successor and summoned other leaders to discuss it. One suggested:" Your son Danzhu is suitable. " Yao disagreed:" His virtue is not qualified. " Then people recommended Shun.

Shun

Shun had a father who was muddled and called Gusou (means blind old guy). As Shun's birth mother passed away early, Gusou remarried to a vicious woman and had another son Xiang who was arrogant and spoiled. Shun's life got quite tough, nontheless he treated the whole family with kindness, that's why people considered him as a man of virtue.
Yao decided to know more about Shun and married off his two daughters Ehuang and Nvying to Shun. With his talent and noble personality, Shun did excellent work and infected and attracted other people. Wherever Shun lived, one year later it became a village, two years later a small town, three years later a city. Yao was satisfied, he awarded Shun flocks and herds and bulit a storehouse for him. Gusou, the stepmother and Xiang were jealous, they planned to kill Shun and took all the possessions. Once Gusou asked Shun to mend the roof, and set a fire, Shun jumped down by two big hats. Another time, Gusou asked Shun to dig a well, and threw stones and soil to fill the well, however, Shun dug a channel from the side and went home safe again. Afterwards, Shun was still filial and respectful to his parents.
The story of Shun is an epitome of Chinese traditional value--filial piety and courtesy. I have to say, if I were him, I would run far far awar from that family.
Yao appointed Shun to took over more and more government affairs and he did all the things well. Finally Yao abdicated and handed over the crown to Shun. Upon his accession, Shun was as frugal and industrious as Yao, he reformed official institution to clarify the responsibilities of officials, as a result the efficiency got improved. After Yao's death, Shun offered the throne to Yao's son Danzhu, but all the people insisted to follow Shun, so Shun formally became the leader.
As Shun got old, he passed on power to Yu, who successfully tamed the flood. Yao and Shun are the symbol of fairness and selfless, and also the model of emperors. 

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Yellow Emperor

Yellow Emperor

Chinese people proudly call themselves as "descendants of Yan emperor and Yellow emperor ". We often say China has a history of 5 thousand years, it counted from the time of Yellow emperor.
The stories about him were quite legendary, it's hard to say which parts are real history and which are myth. We can understand this way: Yellow emperor was a great tribal leader, so people credit many inventions and creations to him and his ministers, and also made up many legends.

Yellow emperor, surnamed Gongsun, named Xuanyuan, is regarded as the forefather of the China nation. He was the son of a tribal leader Shaodian, it's said he was very smart and could speak soon after his birth. As he grew, he was upright, industrious and knowledgeable. At his 20, Yellow emperor inherited the throne and led his tribe into prosperity.
Back then, different tribes fought all the time. Yellow emperor beat many tribes, and many came over and pledged allegiance. 

Chiyou

Chiyou is another tribal leader, the ancestor of Miao nationality. It's said he had ox head and all of his 81 brothers had iron head and beast body, they ate stone and sand as food, you can imagine how fierce they were. Mostly Chiyou is considered as evil and brutal, however, he was good at fighting and manufacturing weapons, therefore he is also worshiped as god of war. 
Although the details differ, many ancient books recorded the tough fight between Yellow emperor and Chiyou. It's said Chiyou made dense fog to disorient Yellow emperor's military, but Yellow emperor used south pointing cart to find the way. Another saying is they asked gods for help. Anyway, at last Yellow emperor beat Chiyou and united all the tribes. 

Back to the first sentence, you may ask, what about Yan emperor? His name is there. Well, it's a little complicated. There were many records about Yan emperor too. But it's controversial whether Yan emperor is a specific person or a title of a tribal leader, whether he was the one in the legend who tasted many kinds of herbs. So let's just say, it's quite likely he was a tribal leader surnamed Jiang and had big contribution in agriculture and medicine. He was relative to Yellow emperor and two tribes generally became one. 

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Chinese Creation Myths

Pan Gu Created the World

When we talk about history of China and trace it to the very beginning, instead of evolution or primitive people, it usually reminds the story how Pan Gu--the first being, created the world.
It's said, the whole world was originally chaos with no light or sound, like an egg, Pan Gu was born in it. After 18 thousand years, he woke up and separated the world with an ax (I know, the chaos not only gave birth to a man, but also to an ax! ). All the light things went up and became the sky, all the heavy things went down and became the earth, Pan Gu stood in the middle.
Every day, the sky got 10 feet higher, the earth got 10 feet thicker, and Pan Gu got 10 feet taller. Another 18 thousand years late, the sky was extremely high, the earth was extremely thick, and Pan Gu decided to sacrifice himself to make a vibrant world. 
The moment he was down, his left eye became the sun, his right eye became the moon, his blood became rivers, his sweat became lakes, his body became mountains, his hairs became grasslands and forests, his breath became wind and his sound became thunder.

Nuwa Created Human Beings

Nuwa is a great goddess of creation who could create at least 70 things every day, it's said she had human head and snake body. Her most famous achievements include making human beings and mending the sky.
After the creation of the world by Pan Gu, there were beautiful landscapes and even animals, but something's missing. Nuwa rambled all over the world but felt quite lonely. One day, she rested beside a pool, from which clear water reflected her face. Then she came up with the idea to make something like herself. So she shaped a figure after her image with handy clay and water. When the work was done, the figure came alive and called her mom. Nuwa was very happy and named the figure "human", then she continued making more and more ones. Finally she was tired, and there were too many ones to make for the big world. She got a vine，stuck it into mud water and then waved it. Each point of the mud became a person. Thus, Nuwa made a lot of people. In order to keep people reproducing by themselves, Nuwa also established marriage system. So the world is the way we see now.

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