The New International Encyclopædia/Yao

YAO, you. One of the ‘ancient sovereigns’ of China. The Shu-King or Book of History—the oldest historical record the Chinese possess—begins with the reign of Yao (B.C. 2357), and shows him at the head of an elaborate, well-organized governmental system, carefully searching out able and virtuous men to be placed at the head of the different departments, and appointing astronomers to regulate the seasons. In the sixty-first year of his reign (B.C. 2296) occurred the great inundation commonly known among foreigners as ‘the Chinese Flood,’ whose ‘regulation’ taxed the energy of one engineer for nine years and his successor for thirteen. In the seventieth year of his reign (B.C. 2287), wishing to retire, Yao, passing over his own son, selected Shun, noted for his filial piety, as his colleague and successor. He died in B.C. 2258. Very little more is known regarding him, except that he was the son of one of the kings who had succeeded Hwang-li (q.v.). He is the first of the “ancient kings” of China so much lauded by Confucius for their virtues.