As a sage-king historical event recorded in the Confucian classics， the “Yao-Shun abdication” once embodied the supreme Confucian ideals and moral values. However， amid the academic transformation in modern China， with the dichotomy of value and fact， historical events in the classics were called into question， and the “Yao-Shun abdication” was reinterpreted by historians. Gu Jiegang顾颉刚 rejected the Confucian depiction of the “Yao-Shun abdication” as well as the values and meanings Confucianism attributed to this event； Meng Wentong蒙文通 clarified the prototype and historical theories of the “Yao-Shun abdication” by drawing on the three-lineage theory of ancient history， and attempted to preserve the Confucian ideals and values inherent in “abdication”； Guo Moruo郭沫若 severed the connection between the “Yao-Shun abdication” and Confucianism through Marxist theories， assigning it a position and interpretation within a new historiographical framework. These three interpretations reveal the different orientations of modern scholars in addressing the transformation of classical and historical studies into modern specialized disciplines. To varying degrees， they responded to the separation of value and fact faced by modern Chinese academia， yet none succeeded in establishing a stable and close connection between the two.