Shaohao
Shaohao (少昊), also known as Shao Hao, Jin Tian or Xuanxiao, was a legendary Chinese sovereign who reigned c. 2600 BC. Shaohao is usually identified as a son of the Yellow Emperor. According to some traditions (for example the Book of Documents), he is a member of the Five Emperors.
The historicity of Shaohao is controversial. The Doubting Antiquity School of historians represented by Gu Jiegang posit that Shaohao was added to the orthodox legendary succession by Liu Xin as part of a political campaign of revisions to ancient texts around the 1st century AD.
Orthodox legend
The usually accepted version of his life, the provenance of which can only be reliably traced to the Han Dynasty from the 1st century AD onwards, posits that Shaohao is a son of the Yellow Emperor. He was the leader of the Dongyi, where he shifted their capital to Qufu, Shandong. Ruling for eighty-four years, he was succeeded by his nephew Zhuanxu.
According to the earlier Records of the Grand Historian, there was no emperor (Chinese: 帝) between the Yellow Emperor and Zhuanxu; however, Shaohao is mentioned as a person living between the two who was fretting over a dishonest son. He is usually identified as Xuanxiao (玄囂), the oldest son of the Yellow Emperor found earlier in the text. That would identify the dishonest son as Jiaoji (蟜極), Xuanxiao's only known offspring, who was also passed over as emperor. Jiaoji's son, Ku, and grandsons (Zhi and Yao) did become emperors though.
