To carry out his scheme, Shun bad-mouthed Danzhu and made it known to Emperor Yao, intending to erode the harmony between father and son.
The story of Danzhu is entwined with Shun – another distant relative to Yao through the Yellow Emperor; but one who was living in obscurity, despite his royal lineage.
[4] The Bamboo Annals (Chinese: 竹書紀年; pinyin: Zhúshū Jìnián) represent Yao as having banished prince Danzhu to Danshui in his 58th year of his reign.
However, an alternative account elsewhere in the Annals holds that Shun dethroned and imprisoned Yao, raising Danzhu to the throne for a short time before seizing it himself.
The Annals of Five Emperors (Chinese: 五帝本紀; pinyin: Wǔdì běnjì) which is part of Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian state that "Yao's son Danzhu and Shun's son Shangjun were allowed by Shun to have their own territories in order to offer sacrifices to their ancestors", [5] The official Qiao Zhou proposed that Danzhu was given benefice at Tang (唐), while Shangjun's (商均) benefice was at Yu (虞).