Gao Yao () was the Minister for Law of Emperor Shun 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 promine ...

. 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 i ...

. 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 imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

, 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 ...

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 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