Hello, and welcome back to Chinese Folk Tales.
This is Beibei.
We've been talking about the five emperors, or the five lords, of ancient China.
The Yellow Emperor, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Yao, and Shun.
Among the five, the name of the Yellow Emperor, Huang Di, is the most well-known.
But the deeds and virtues of Yao and Shun are the most respected by the Chinese people.
In fact, because of the nobleness of their moral character, they have come to be worshipped not only as ancient emperors, but also as saints.
By getting to know them, one gets to know what the Chinese people have always considered to be virtuous and admirable.
There were many leaders in ancient China, but not all of them were kind to the common people.
Some had violent tempers, some were greedy, and others were cruel and ruthless.
And these made Emperor Yao all the more lovable and worthy of respect.
In Emperor Yao, one can see what people wanted in a perfect ruler.
Yao was known to be extremely kind and magnanimous.
His lifestyle was very plain, with nothing ostentatious to show as fit for a king.
He ate simple meals and wore cotton gowns.
People trusted his leadership and the different tribes under his rule existed in harmony.
Isn't that already a splendid review for a leader?
But Yao was hard on himself.
He wanted to do even better.
And he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't slip backwards with all the glowing reviews.
One day, Yao called in a few of his ministers and told them, My ability is limited.
How humble.
To govern well, I need to hear what the people have to say.
I'm going to put a big drum outside and if anyone has any suggestions for me, he or she can beat that drum and I will receive him or her.
The ministers thought this was a wonderful idea and they named the drum, which means the drum that advises others to correct their mistakes.
But what about the people who lived far away from the capital?
How could their voices be heard?
Well later, some wooden poles were erected at busy crossroads across the country on which people could put up their advices and complaints.
These would be collected and related to the emperor.
And these wooden poles had a name too, or words of suggestions.
In fact, the names of the drum and the wooden pole became a four-character Chinese idiom.
That means listening to different people's suggestions and opinions.
This story and the wooden poles are were from the ancient times and the methods used would be impossibly impractical today.
You might be surprised to know that something significant remains from those legends, something that's still part of the Chinese scene.
The wooden poles and the ideas that they carried are not lost in modern China.
In fact, they've morphed into the white marble poles called huabiao that stand outside the Forbidden City, right across the road from Tiananmen Square.
They are no longer made of wood, and beautiful carvings of dragons and auspicious clouds add to their ornamental value.
But most importantly...
They are a reminder for leaders to listen and also to work hard.
Besides being a kind ruler, there is something else special about Emperor Yao.
Different from his predecessors, Yao carried no vestige of the celestial power.
He was a revered emperor in the earthly realm, a human being, just like the people that he governed.
Starting from Emperor Yao, Chinese history entered into a new stage, a stage that transcended the supernatural.
To summarize a bit, The Yellow Emperor and Emperor Yao are both revered emperors throughout Chinese history.
The Yellow Emperor could command the wind and the clouds, and even gods and spirits listened to him.
But Yao did not have that power.
He was known and admired for his virtues and high morals, and especially for his benevolence.
Benevolence and kind-heartedness have always been the highest moral standard and the most glowing compliments in the Chinese culture, both for rulers and for the common man.
This difference in people's remembrance of the two emperors can also indicate that after the warring stage under the Yellow Emperor's rule, a nation was forming.
The different tribes converged together and became more and more like a nation-state.
The Yellow Emperor fought one battle after another.
He was a hero that conquered.
Then during the reign of Yao, there was not much need to fight for more land and resources.
The focus shifted to how to manage the affairs of the nation.
Emperor Yao became a symbol of the most perfect head of state, embodying all the qualities of a moral sage.
Emperors who came after him became like his fans in a way that wanted to emulate him and to live up to his standards.
Was Emperor Yao as perfect as people thought of him?
Maybe yes and maybe no, but we all need a hero or heroine. a model that we can strive for.
This is our simple introduction of Emperor Yao, and we will get to Emperor Shun in our next episode.
So hope to see you then, and bye for now.
Please feel free to contact us via email at podcast at cricomcn or find us on Twitter.
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