Alternative Biography
The Bamboo Annals and Han Fei paint a very different picture of Shun. He is said to have overthrown Yao and left him in prison to die. Danzhu, Yao's son and rightful heir, was banished and later defeated in battle. Yu then rebelled and banished Shun. This account was referenced in a poem by Li Bai.
Elements of this story depict Shun as a usurper. He comes from a family of criminals that claim to be descended from Zhuanxu, and thus distantly related to the royal family.
The Hanfeizi also mentioned that Shun personally settled land and water disputes among farmers and fishermen by cohabitating with them.
Read more about this topic: Shun (Chinese Leader)
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“If you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?”
—Graham Greene (1904–1991)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)