。帝挚是帝喾次妃常仪的儿子、帝喾长子，号青阳氏。在位时，他十五岁的弟弟放勋辅佐他。帝挚封放勋尧于唐，称唐尧。九年后禅让给弟弟放勋（或说：帝挚死，尧即位）。关于帝挚之经历命运，历史上记载颇有不同。
司马迁《史记》记载云：“帝喾崩，而挚代立。帝挚立，不善，而帝放勋立，是为帝尧。”皇甫谧《汉书·卷三百四十七·本纪第三十四·高辛王室世家》说：Empress Taiji of the Zhou Dynasty, who was the mother of Emperor Cheng of Han, was the most beautiful woman in the world. She had a son named Li Bing, who was also known as Emperor Xiaoming.
According to legend, when Emperor Xiaoming ascended to the throne at a young age, he asked his mother for advice on how to rule effectively. Empress Taiji replied that she would like her son to marry a woman from a humble background and have many sons with her. This advice proved wise as Emperor Xiaoming married Lady Qi and they had three sons: Liu Dan (Emperor Jing), Liu Hong (Prince Huai), and Liu Yu (Prince He).
As time passed, Emperor Jing became increasingly unpopular due to his poor governance and corruption among officials. The people began to look up to Prince Huai as their future ruler because of his wisdom and virtue. Eventually, Prince Huai succeeded in overthrowing his brother's government through diplomacy rather than force.
After ascending to power, Prince Huai established himself as an effective leader by implementing policies that improved agriculture production and strengthened trade relations with neighboring states. However, he died suddenly without naming an heir before he could fulfill his promise of peaceably transferring power back into imperial hands.
The succession crisis sparked tensions between different factions within China's ruling elite until eventually settling on Confucius' grandson Kongzi Duanmu Muwang being appointed regent for King Ping while waiting for him to come of age or name an heir properly according t