Shun (Chinese Leader) - Legends

Legends

Legend has it that Shun's birth mother died when Shun was very young. His father was blind and re-married soon after Shun's mother's death. Shun's stepmother then gave birth to Shun's stepbrother Xiang (象) and a stepsister. Shun's step mother and step brother treated Shun terribly, often forcing Shun to do all the hard work in the family and only give him the worst food and clothing. Shun's father being blind and elderly, was often ignorant of Shun's good deeds and always blamed Shun for everything. Yet, despite these conditions, Shun never complained and always treated his father, his stepmother, and his stepbrother with kindness and respect.

When he was barely an adult, his stepmother threw him out of the house. Shun was forced to live on his own. Yet, because of his compassionate nature and his natural leadership skills, everywhere he went, people followed him, and he was able to organize the people to be kind to each other and do the best they can. When Shun first went to a village that produced pottery, after less than one year, the potteries became more beautiful than they had ever been. When Shun went to a fishing village, the people there were at first fighting amongst themselves over the fishing grounds, and many people were injured or killed in the fights. Shun taught them how to share and allocate the fishing resources, and soon the village was prospering and all hostilities ceased.

When Emperor Yao became old, he distressed over the fact that his 9 sons were all useless, only knew how to spend their days enjoying themselves with wines and songs. Yao asked his administers, the Four Mountains, to propose a suitable successor. Yao then heard of Shun's tales. Wise Yao did not want to simply believe in the tales about Shun, so he decided to test Shun. Yao gave a district to Shun to govern and married his two daughters to him, with a small dowry of a new house and some money.

Though given an office and money, Shun still lived humbly. He continued to work in the fields every day. Shun even managed to convince his two brides, the two princesses, Yao's daughters, named Ehuang (Fairy Radiance) and Nüying (Maiden Bloom), who are used to good living, to live humbly and work along the people. However, Shun's stepmother and stepbrother became extremely jealous and conspired to kill Shun. Once, Shun's stepbrother Xiang lit a barn on fire, and convinced Shun to climb onto the roof to put the fire out, but then Xiang took away the ladder, trapping Shun on the burning roof. Shun skillfully made a parachute out of his hat and cloth and jump down in safety. Another time, Xiang and his mother conspired to get Shun drunk and then throw him into a dried up well and then bury him with rocks and dirt. Shun's stepsister, never approving of her mother and brother's schemes, told Shun's wives about the scheme. Shun thus prepared himself. Shun pretended to get drunk, and when he was thrown into the well, he had already a tunnel pre-dug to escape to the surface. Thus, Shun survived many attempts on his life. Yet, he never blamed his stepmother or his stepbrother, and always forgave them every time.

Eventually, Shun's stepmother and stepbrother repented their past wrongs. Shun heartily forgave them both, and even helped Xiang get an office. Shun also managed to influence Emperor Yao's 9 worthless sons into becoming useful contributing members of society.

Emperor Yao was very impressed by all of Shun's achievements, and thus chose Shun as his successor and put him on the throne in the year of Jiwei (己未). Yao's capital was in Ji (冀) which, presently, is also in Shanxi province.

Shun is also renowned as the originator of the music called Dashao (大韶), a symphony of nine Chinese music instruments.

In the last year of Shun's reign, Shun decided to tour the country. But unfortunately, he died suddenly of an illness on the journey near the Xiang River. Both his wives rushed from home to his body, and wept by the river for days. Their tears turned into blood and stained the reeds by the river. From that day on, the bamboo of that region became red-spotted, which explains the origin of spotted bamboo. Then overcome by grief, both women threw themselves into the river and drowned.

Shun considered his son, Shangjun (商均), as unworthy and picked Yu, the tamer of floods, as his heir.