Yaode Legend

01 · Historical Records

Yao is a sage ruler of ancient Chinese legend, said to have founded his capital at Pingyang and abdicated in favour of Shun. According to the generations-old tradition of the villagers of Yaoyu village in Jiang county, Shanxi, and to the relevant documentary records, King Yao was born in Yaoyu village; the ancient steles such as Remnant Ways of Taotang and Majestic Matching Heaven surviving in and around the village, and the sites of the King Yao temple and the secret cave of King Yao's birth, are the material support for the long circulation of the King Yao legends.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

According to the generations-old tradition of the villagers of Yaoyu village in Jiang county, Shanxi, and to the relevant documentary records, King Yao was born in Yaoyu village. The village has ancient steles such as Remnant Ways of Taotang, Majestic Matching Heaven, the Record of Founding the Stockade and the Old Post-Road Stele, and also the King Yao temple on the east Yaoling, the All-Gods temple on the west Yaoling, the Three Officials temple before the village and the secret cave of King Yao's birth on the middle Yaoling, said all to be connected with King Yao. The Neolithic, Yangshao and Longshan culture sites of the east and west Yaoling also have many remains related to King Yao, such as the stone chair he sat on and the stone table he used, the pool in which he bathed, the altar on which he sacrificed to heaven, the stand from which he reviewed his generals, the tower of his sacrifice to heaven, the Southern Heavenly Gate, the Pot Gate and the Green Dragon Ridge. Every place has a rich and moving legend of King Yao, representative works including King Yao Starts the New Year Greetings, The Saying about Burying People and Ehuang and Nüying Offer Birthday Greetings.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Yao legends of Jiang county, Shanxi, take Yaoyu village as their centre and corroborate one another with the local Neolithic, Yangshao and Longshan culture sites; the King Yao temple, the altar of sacrifice to heaven and the reviewing stand and the relic place-names around the east, west and middle Yaoling form the geographical space of the legend's circulation.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Yaode Legend.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

As one of the oldest sage rulers of a country of five thousand years of civilisation, King Yao's various legends lodge the people's beautiful yearning for clean government and a peaceful world, which gives the various relics and legends of King Yao a certain historical and cultural value and reflects a deep national cultural psychology. Collating and studying these legends can not only deepen our understanding of traditional culture but also play a certain positive role in building a harmonious society. Representative works such as King Yao Starts the New Year Greetings, The Saying about Burying People and Ehuang and Nüying Offer Birthday Greetings lodge the people's beautiful yearning for clean government and a peaceful world and have relatively high historical and cultural value and a deep national cultural psychological content. The King Yao legends corroborate one another with the prehistoric culture sites around Yaoyu village in Jiang county, providing vivid material for studying the origin of Chinese civilisation and folk belief.

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yaode Legend (Jiang, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗