Before his death Shun is recorded as relinquishing his seat of power to Yu (禹), the founder of the Xia dynasty.

Under Emperor Yao, Shun was appointed successively Minister of Instruction, General Regulator and chief of the Four Peaks, and put all affairs in proper order within three years.

[6] After ascending to the throne, Shun offered sacrifices to the god Shang Di (上帝), as well as to the hills, rivers, and the host of spirits (神).

[9] Shun dealt with Four Perils: banishing Gonggong to You Prefecture, confining Huan-dou (驩兜) on Mount Chong (宗山), executing or imprisoning Gun a prisoner till his death on Feather Mountain (羽), and driving the San-Miao into San-Wei.

[10] Gun's son, Yu (禹), was subsequently appointed as minister of work(共工) to govern the water and the land.

[11] Yu wished to decline in favour of the Minister of Agriculture, or Xie (契), or Gao Yao, but finally accepted upon Shun's insistence.

[12] Shun also appointed Yi as Minister of Animal Husbandry to govern the beasts and trees of the land,[13] Bo-yi as Priest of the Ancestral Temple to perform religious ceremonies,[14] Hui as Director of Music,[15] Long as Minister of Communications to counter deceptions and false reports.

[17] The Bamboo Annals state that Yao chose Shun as his heir three years before abdicating the throne to him.

Yet, despite these conditions, Shun never complained and always treated his father, his stepmother, and his half brother with kindness and respect.

Shun taught them how to share and allocate the fishing resources, and soon the village was prospering and all hostilities ceased.

When Emperor Yao became old, he became distressed over the fact that his nine sons were all useless, only knew how to spend their days enjoying themselves with wine and song.

Yao gave a district to Shun to govern and married his two daughters to him, with a small dowry of a new house and some money.

Another time, Xiang and his mother conspired to get Shun drunk and then throw him into a dried-up well and then bury him with rocks and dirt.

Shun also managed to influence Emperor Yao's 9 worthless sons into becoming useful contributing members of society.

Shun considered his son, Shangjun (商均), as unworthy and picked Yu, the tamer of floods, as his heir.

It is thought by some scholars that Mencius asserted "Shun was an Eastern barbarian; he was born in Chu Feng, moved to Fu Hsia, and died in Ming T'iao and that emperor Yao came to his field's with oxs and married his daughters to him and appointed him and that he did not reign as emperor until after yao died because they cannot be two rulers.

Both the Annals and the book Han Feizi stated that Shun overthrew Yao and left him in prison to die.

[26] Han Fei also mentioned that Shun personally settled land and water disputes among farmers and fishermen by cohabitating with them.