The Origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival

In addition to allegedly inventing the Chinese chess game of Wei Chi, Yao was also the first to hand the king ship down to the most worthy candidate. He had a somewhat disappointing son named Dan Jue, and when it came to abdicate, he passed over Dan Jue and appointed his son in La Shun instead. For handling the succession this way, Yao was repeatedly the target of endless assassination attempts by his own father and stepbrother. It's his daughters who are remembered as the Xiang Shui Shen, or Xiang River goddesses of Chinese folk religion fame; they time and again save Yao's life.