The legend of Yao is one of the Han folk legends in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province, and is an intangible cultural heritage of my country. Yao is a sage king in ancient Chinese legends. Later generations said that he was called Tao Tang and his surname was Yi Qi, so he was also called Tang Yao. The Book of History and the Records of the Grand Historian both said that his name was Fang Xun. According to legend, Yao's father was the emperor and his mother was the daughter of Chen Feng. The emperor was the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and reigned for 70 years. "Wherever the sun and the moon shine, wherever the wind and rain come, everyone obeys." After his death, Yao's half-brother Zhi succeeded him. Zhi reigned for 9 years, was not good at politics, and abdicated to Yao. [Historical Records] Huangfu Mi of the Jin Dynasty said in "Emperors' Chronicles": "Yao's capital was Pingyang, which is Tang State in the Book of Songs." Later dynasties said that "Yao's capital was Pingyang". Pingyang is now Linfen City, Shanxi Province. The Tang State mentioned in the Book of Songs is in Shanxi. Today, Linfen still has the Yao Temple built in the Jin Dynasty and the Yao Mausoleum built in the Tang Dynasty. Yao's character and wisdom were extraordinary. "His benevolence was like heaven, and his common knowledge (wisdom) was like a god. He was like the sun when approached, and like the clouds when looked at. He was rich but not arrogant, and noble but not comfortable." Therefore, after he ascended the throne, the situation changed drastically: he recommended virtuous and talented people from his own clan, first of all, to make the clan members closely united and achieve "the nine clans are harmonious"; he also examined the performance of officials, distinguished the superior from the inferior, rewarded the good and punished the evil, and made government affairs orderly; at the same time, he paid attention to coordinating the relationship between the various states and ethnic groups, and educated the people to live in harmony, so that "the world is peaceful and the people are harmonious in times of change", and the world is peaceful, the politics is clear, and the world is harmonious. In the pre-Qin period, the Confucianism and Mohism were the most powerful schools, known as "famous schools", and both schools took Yao and Shun as their slogans. From then on, Yao became the ancient sage king, not only an ideal personality in ethics and morality, but also a model monarch for governing the country and bringing peace to the world. Confucius said, "How great is Yao as a ruler! How majestic! Only heaven is man, and only Yao is strong. How magnanimous, the people cannot name him. How great is his achievement, how brilliant is his writing!" Confucius' praise for Yao has become more and more popular as Confucianism has become more and more important in Chinese cultural tradition. Later, Confucianism took "following the example of Yao and Shun, and establishing the constitution of Wen and Wu" as its symbol; in the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu and even the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties advocated the theory of "Taoism", and Yao became the spiritual ancestor of Confucianism. Throughout the feudal era, no one has ever doubted Yao's existence in history and his achievements. [Legend of Yao] The legend about Yao's contribution to the management of the country can be seen from two aspects: farming and water control. Farming legend In Yao's era, the calendar was first formulated, so that the working people could engage in production activities according to the time and festival, so as not to delay the farming time. The Han nationality is a nation with a long history of agricultural reclamation, and attaches great importance to the farming time, so the "Book of History Yao Canon" has detailed records of this. The Classic of Yao states that Yao ordered Xishi and Heshi to formulate a calendar based on the movement of the sun, moon and stars, and then promulgate it throughout the country so that agricultural production could follow it, which was called "respectfully teaching the people the time"; he sent Xizhong to live in a place called D Valley on the eastern coast to observe the sunrise, and take the day with equal day and night as the spring equinox, and refer to the position of the stars for correction; he sent Xishu to live in a place called Mingdu to observe the movement of the sun from north to south, and take the day with the longest daylight as the summer solstice, and refer to the position of Mars for correction; he sent Hezhong to live in a place called Mei Valley in the west to observe the sunset, and take the day with equal day and night as the autumnal equinox, and refer to the position of Xuxing for correction; he sent Heshu to live in a place called Youdu in the north to observe the movement of the sun from south to north, and take the day with the shortest daylight as the winter solstice, and refer to the position of Pleiades for correction. After the two equinoxes and two solstices were determined, Yao decided to use 366 days as a year, and add a leap month every three years, using the leap month to adjust the relationship between the calendar and the four seasons, so that the agricultural time of each year was correct and there would be no errors. From this, we can see that the ancients regarded the era of Emperor Yao as an era of great progress in agricultural culture. The era of Emperor Yao, who controlled floods, was also a legendary flood period. "The floods were so strong that they covered the mountains and hills, and the water was so strong that it could not reach the sky." The water was so strong that it roared and flooded the hills and rushed to the high hills, endangering the world and making people uneasy. Yao was very concerned about this and consulted the opinions of the Four Yues (the leaders of the four princes) and asked who could control the floods. The Four Yues recommended Gun. Yao felt that Gun was unreliable, often disobeyed orders, and endangered the interests of his own clan, so he was not suitable for this important task. However, the Four Yues insisted on letting Gun give it a try, and if it really didn't work, he would be dismissed from his post. So Yao appointed Gun to control the floods. Gun controlled the floods for 9 years, but he had no achievements. This is a political mistake in the legend about Yao. There are several similar shortcomings. In short, Yao's era was not perfect, so Shun succeeded him and worked hard to govern. Yao was not only talented in governing the country, but also a monarch who was good at both civil and military affairs. There are legends about Emperor Yao's military achievements in various books. Only when he was good at both civil and military affairs can we see why Yao was a sage king in ancient times. "Lüshi Chunqiu Zhaolei Chapter" says: "Yao fought at the Danshui River to subdue the southern barbarians." Yao once attacked the gangs in the south and personally went to war. "Huainanzi Benjingxun" says: "In Yao's time, ten suns came out at the same time, burning crops, killing plants and trees, and the people had nothing to eat. The magpie, the chisel tooth, the nine infants, the big wind, the feng g, and the repairing snake were all harmful to the people." Yao sent Yi to kill those beasts and shoot down nine suns. It is said that people were very grateful for Yao's actions to eliminate harm for the people, so they supported him as the emperor. "Yi Shooting Nine Suns" is already a myth, but the meaning of praising Yao for "promoting benefits and eliminating harm, suppressing rebellion and prohibiting violence" is indeed to praise Emperor Yao for his good governance of the country, not only flourishing in culture, but also brilliant in military achievements. In the legends about Yao, the most talked about thing should be that he did not pass the throne to his son but to a virtuous person, and abdicated to Shun, and did not regard the throne of the Son of Heaven as his own private property. Yao reigned for 70 years and felt it necessary to choose a successor. He had long believed that his son Danzhu was fierce and stubborn and could not be used, so he discussed with the Four Mountains and asked them to recommend candidates. The Four Mountains recommended Shun, saying that this person was very filial, handled family relationships very well, and could influence his family members to make them change from evil to good. Yao decided to investigate first and then make a decision. Yao married his two daughters Ehuang and Nvying to Shun to investigate his virtues from his two daughters to see if he could Take good care of household affairs. Shun, Ehuang and Nvying lived by the Weishui River and acted according to etiquette. The two women were very fond of Shun and strictly abided by the rules of women. Yao also sent Shun to promote moral education. Shun taught his subjects to use the "Five Classics", namely fatherly righteousness, motherly kindness, brotherly friendship, younger brother's respect, and son's filial piety, to guide their behavior. The subjects were happy to listen to his teachings and generally acted in accordance with the "Five Classics". Yao also let Shun take charge of all officials and handle government affairs. All officials obeyed Shun's command. All things were revitalized without any neglect, and they seemed to be particularly well organized without any disorder. Yao also let Shun be responsible for receiving the princes who came to pay homage to the four gates of the Mingtang. Shun got along well with the princes and made them harmonious and friendly. The princes and guests from afar all respected him very much. Finally, Yao asked Shun to go to the forest at the foot of the mountain alone to withstand the test of nature. Shun was in the storm and thunderstorm , he was able to walk without getting lost, showing a strong ability to survive. After three years of various investigations, Yao felt that Shun was mature and reliable in speaking and doing things, and was able to achieve great achievements, so he decided to abdicate the throne to Shun. On the first day of the first lunar month (the first day of the month), he held a ceremony of abdication in the Taimiao, officially allowing Shun to succeed him and ascend the throne of the emperor. Yao retired and died 28 years later. "The people were sad, as if they had lost their parents for three years. No music was held in all directions to think of Yao." People's nostalgia for him was deep. [Profound Significance] In the 1920s, driven by the new ideas of the May Fourth Movement, the School of Doubting Antiquity emerged. Its giant Gu Jiegang believed that the "Yao Canon" in the "Shang Shu" was unreliable and that the article appeared in the Warring States Period; therefore, the earliest record of Yao and Shun in the "Analects of Confucius" was considered, and it was inferred from this that The story of Yao and Shun appeared in the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The relationship between Yao, Shun and Yu and the deeds of abdication were gradually fabricated and perfected. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, the oldest king known to people was Yu, but there was no Yao or Shun. Therefore, Yao must be "Mr. Wu Shi" or "Mr. Wu You", as Qian Xuantong said, and is not a historical figure at all. With the rise of Marxist historiography, the materialist conception of history and the general laws of social development history were used to study the legend about Yao, pointing out that the era of Yao was a transitional period from primitive society to slave society. At this time, the clan tribes with blood ties had formed a tribal alliance, and Yao was the leader of the alliance elected by the tribal alliance council. In the legend, Yao discussed with the four Yues the candidates for flood control and the successor, which to a certain extent reflected the scene of the tribal alliance council; Yao's abdication to Shun was a relic of the primitive democratic style. Engels once pointed out that at this stage, every cultural nation must go through its own heroic age. Yao, Shun and Yu are the heroes of the Chinese nation.