Chinese Mythology

The Folk Gods and Spirits of the Middle Kingdom

YAO

Chinese legendary mortal

Also known as Yao-Di

Picture of the Chinese legendary mortal Yao from our Chinese mythology image library. Illustration by Chas Saunders.

Disaster-prone legendary king

One of the Wu Di, the legendary Five Kings who ruled China after the San Huang.

His biggest claim-to-fame is that he invented the game of Go (Wei Qi). It was during his reign that several disasters happened. First there was the problem of the Ten Suns (see Di Jun).

On top of that, the Yellow River burst its banks and caused a Great Flood. (Was this anything to do with Gonggong? We don’t know.) But Yao instructed his officer Gun to deal with the problem. Which was somewhat unfair as he was still mopping up when Shun came to the throne.

Yao Facts and Figures

Name: Yao
Pronunciation: Yaow
Alternative names: Yao-Di

Gender: Male
Type: legendary mortal
Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present

Role: Unknown at present

Good/Evil Rating: Unknown at present
Popularity index: 4387

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Article last revised on April 20, 2019 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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