Ancient China · Legendary Prince

Danzhu 丹朱

Dānzhū

Legendary antiquity

Passages: 3
Chapters: 3
Histories: 3

Overview

Danzhu was a Legendary Prince.

Life and dates

Attested activity

legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 53, passage 55; Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 183; Book of Zhou 23, passage 139

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Emperor Yao (帝堯)
son
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 53, passage 55

Key source chapters

Origins and identity

descendant of emperors and kings 帝王之胤
Directly stated · Book of Zhou 23, passage 139

Events and relationships

Cited as model or warning
AD 544 大統十年 · Political · Exemplar · Mode document Source Person Id Su Chuo (蘇綽)
Directly stated · Book of Zhou 23, passage 139

Assessments and attributes

Assessment proud, idle, and debauched; lost his line · Mode named-speech Speaker Shun (舜)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 183

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 2

References in the histories

Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 53Volume 53 Biographies 34: Virtuous Officials · 1 passage

愿又曰：「堯以此教丹朱，非人主所宜好也。」 Yuan added, 'Yao used this game to teach his son Danzhu—it is not a pastime fit for a sovereign.'

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 2Annals of Xia · 1 passage

帝曰：「毋若丹朱傲，維慢游是好，毋水行舟，朋淫于家，用絕其世。 The Emperor said: "Do not be like Danzhu, proud and idle, who boated for pleasure, debauched his household, and lost his line.

Book of Zhou, Chapter 23Volume 23 Biographies 15: Su Chuo · 1 passage

苟非其人，則丹朱、商均雖帝王之胤，不能守百里之封，而況於公卿之冑乎。 Get the wrong man and even Dan Zhu and Shang Jun, though sons of kings, could not hold a hundred-li fief—much less the offspring of great ministers.