Yu-huang Shang Ti

"That stubborn old man simply refuses to die."

- Osiris

Yu-huang Shang Ti, the Jade Emperor, also known as Yu the Great or simply Yu, was one of the oldest Goa'uld System Lords.

1999
Yu was part of the delegation that was sent by the System Lords to negotiate Earth's entry into the Asgard's Protected Planets Treaty, along with Cronus and Nirrti. He partially favored the treaty, as his interests no longer resided in that area of the Milky Way, looking toward other exploits. After SG-1 revealed Nirrti's treachery to kill Cronus, Yu was convinced to allow Earth into the treaty, and also let them keep their Stargates, which were originally to be forfeited as a condition of the treaty.

2002
During the aftermath of the deaths of Apophis, Cronus, and Heru'ur, Yu was among the System Lords who engaged in combat with the others to come to dominate the power vacuum. He made strides against Olokun, but soon began to suffer attacks by an unknown adversary. When the System Lords gathered to end the conflict, Osiris, who recently gained the respect of the Goa'uld, arrived as an emissary on behalf of Anubis, whom he revealed to be the one behind the attacks. Yu was the only one of the seven System Lords present who voted against Anubis's regain of his former rank of System Lord, and was the only one among the High Council of System Lords that had originally banished him in the first place. Dr. Daniel Jackson, posing as his lo'taur Jarren, attempted to use Yu's Tel'tak to kidnap Osiris in order to free his host, Sarah Gardner, but Yu stumbled upon them. Osiris stabbed Yu with a knife, but Yu survived and declared war on Anubis.

When Teal'c lead a raid on Yu's homeworld, his Jaffa captured Teal'c. He allowed him to leave unharmed after he told him that K'tano was actually Imhotep.

2003
Yu then spent the next year fiercely campaigning against Anubis, and finally managed to rally the other System Lords against him. However, the power of the sarcophagus was beginning to fail to fully restore him, until he reached the point where he was no longer able to take a new host. Yu began to suffer from a sense of senility. In turn, his First Prime Oshu, had to take control of his master's Empire to keep it from falling into anarchy, and Ba'al took leadership of the United Alliance of System Lords.

2004
When Ba'al took control of the Kull warriors, Yu was accompanied by Camulus and Amaterasu in a second delegation to Earth to seek their help in defeating Ba'al. Yu and Amaterasu left empty handed, while Camulus sought asylum.

2005
Over the next year, Amaterasu and Yu campaigned against Ba'al, while the rest of the System Lords fell, fled, or surrendered. At a meeting in the Hasara space station, Ba'al sent his underlord Selkhet to negotiate their surrender. Replicator Carter arrived, posing as Samantha Carter, and ran a blade through Yu's chest, finally killing him.

Alternate timeline
''In an alternate timeline in which Stargate Command never existed, Yu was one of many Goa'uld that allied under the banner of Lord Ba'al and fought against the resisting System Lords. He was promised a domain on Earth by Lord Ba'al upon the successful conquest of the planet.''

Notable actions

 * Yu was the only System Lord to act as a representative on both committees to Earth.
 * Yu was the only Goa'uld who voted against Anubis's return.
 * Yu, Apophis, and Sokar are the only System Lords to not be named after a god of sorts. Yu is named after an emperor and Sokar and Apophis are named after egyptian demons.

Personality
Unlike most Goa'uld, who are generally megalomaniacal and obsessed with total domination, Yu can be fairly pragmatic and methodical. While certainly no friend of Earth, Yu is mostly concerned with strengthening his hold on the territory he already controls, while other Goa'uld will often haphazardly waste resources trying to conquer the entire galaxy. Yu is also often fairly willing to negotiate with Earth (as opposed to other System Lords which view all humans as just livestock) and achieve a diplomatic solution more or less co-existent with the Tau'ri. However, it is stated that this is due in no small part to the fact that the territories Yu controls are on the opposite side of the Milky Way Galaxy, and thus most of the other System Lords are located between Yu and Earth: allowing Earth to survive helps destabilize Yu's Goa'uld enemies located between the two.

Another factor is simply the persona that Yu took, that of one of China's early emperors, who was not really considered a "god" per se. Like many other Goa'uld, however, Yu does generally seem to believe his own propaganda (unlike Ba'al, who privately acknowledges the falsehood of this claim and is rather flippant about it). Still, Yu rarely asserts this fact, even when questioned, or endeavor to force others to acknowledge it (as opposed to Apophis and Sokar, who were rather self-obsessed with their status as "gods").

Behind the scenes
Two references in the series to the historical basis of Yu show a clear contradiction on the persona Yu assumed. In a briefing at the SGC, Daniel Jackson introduced Yu as "Yu the Great. He did not assume the role of a god, per se. But may have been one of China's earliest emperors... He founded the first recorded dynasty". Later, Jackson, impersonating Yu's servant, announced Yu's full title as "the Jade Emperor, the exalted Lord Yuhuang Shangti". The first reference refers to Yu the Great, founder of the Xia Dynasty, a mortal who lived in 21st century BC, and "Yu" would be written as 禹 in Chinese. The second reference refers to the Jade Emperor, a deity of Taoism developed much later on, and "Yu" would be written as 玉 in Chinese (additionally, the word should be pronounced more like "yee").

It is possible, however, that Yu assumed both personas at different times.

His Jaffa symbol is similar to the Chinese character 中 (zhong) which is roughly translated as middle, and is used in the Chinese word for China ("zhong guo"; lit. "middle country", or "land in the center of all things").