Shun (emperor)
Legendary sage king who punished Gun and passed the throne to Yu
- Traditional date
- c. 23rd century BCE (Britannica)
- Known from
- Shujing; Mencius; Shiji
- Predecessor
- Yao, who gave him two daughters in marriage
- Successor
- Yu the Great
- Known for
- Filial piety
The legendary sage king famed for filial piety, who punished Gun for failing to stop the flood and handed the work, and the throne, to Yu.
What is Shun known for?
Shun is the second of the legendary sage kings, after Yao. Britannica places him in the 23rd century BCE by traditional reckoning. Confucian texts present him as a model of virtue: his father and stepbrother repeatedly tried to kill him, yet he stayed devoted to them.
Yao tested Shun with office and with marriage to his two daughters, then made him co-ruler and successor. Shun is credited with standardizing weights and measures, regulating waterways and dividing the realm into twelve provinces. When Gun failed to control the Great Flood, Shun punished him; texts differ on whether Gun was banished, imprisoned or executed at Feather Mountain. Shun then gave the flood work to Gun's son Yu and later passed the throne to Yu rather than to his own son.
Like Yao, Shun is a figure of myth and moral teaching rather than documented history.
He is one of the two sage kings in whose time the Chinese Great Flood took place.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeYu the Great
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Shun'Reference
- Wikipedia, 'Emperor Shun'Reference
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