Emperor Shun

Emperor Shun, personal name Chonghua and clan name Youyu-shi, was one of the Five Emperors and famed throughout history for his paragon of filial piety. Born into humble circumstances, he endured a father’s obstinacy, a stepmother’s cruelty, and a younger brother’s arrogance—yet he remained unfailingly respectful, dutiful, and affectionate. While farming on Mount Lishan, elephants came to plough his fields and birds to weed his crops—a miracle said to embody 'filial piety moving Heaven', ranked first among the Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety. Emperor Yao, hearing of his virtue, married him to his two daughters and subjected him to rigorous trials before abdicating the throne to him. Upon ascending the throne, Shun banished the Four Fiends, appointed the Eight Virtuous Ones and the Eight Able Men, commissioned Yu to control the floods, Xie to educate the people, and Qi to oversee agriculture—ushering in an era of great peace and prosperity. In his later years, he journeyed south on inspection and died in the wilderness of Cangwu, where he was buried on Jiuyi Mountain; his consorts Ehuang and Nüying wept so bitterly beside the Xiang River that their tears stained the bamboo stalks, leaving dark mottled patterns. Shun governed the realm through filial virtue, and it is said: 'All enlightened virtue in the world originated with Emperor Yu.'