Gao Yao () was the Minister for Law of
Emperor Shun
Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...
in prehistorical China according to tradition. Gao Yao became a political senior advisor of
Yu the Great
Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominen ...
. His father was
Shaohao
Shaohao or Shao Hao ( "Lesser Brightness"), also known Jin Tian (金天), was a legendary Chinese sovereign. Shaohao is usually identified as a son of the Yellow Emperor. According to some traditions (for example the ''Book of Documents''), he is a ...
. He was considered the ancestor of the imperial house of
Li of the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, which honoured him with the
posthumous name
A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or ...
Emperor Deming ().
He is cited admonishing his king: "Heaven can see and hear, and does so through the eyes and ears of the people; Heaven rewards the virtuous and punishes the wicked, and does it through the people."
«New Vitality from Cultural Regeneration»
, ''Taiwan Review'', Vol. 57, No. 12, Dec. 2007
Some Chinese scholars have argued he is the same person as Ye the Great
Ye or Yeh the Great () was a figure in Chinese mythology.
In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', Sima Qian's account of the origin of the House of Ying made him the son of Lady Xiu and the egg of a black bird. He was said to have been the ...
, said by Sima Qian
Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...
to have been the father of Fei the Great
Yi (Chinese: , ''Yì''; millennium BCE) was a tribal leader of Longshan culture and a culture hero in Chinese mythology who helped Shun and Yu the Great control the Great Flood; he served afterwards as a government minister and a successo ...
who was later known as Boyi. Ye was reckoned as one of the ancestors of the House of Ying
This is a family tree of Chinese monarchs during the Warring States period.
Warring States period
In 771 BC, a coalition of feudal lords and the Western Rong tribes overthrew King You and drove the Zhou out of the Wei valley. During ...
in the Qin Qin may refer to:
Dynasties and states
* Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China
* Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC
* Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...
and of the ruling house of Zhao. Gao Yao is sometimes considered the father of Boyi.
References
Xia dynasty politicians
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
{{China-politician-stub