According to

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

and traditional

Chinese historiography Chinese historiography is the study of the techniques and sources used by historians to develop the recorded history of China. Overview of Chinese history The recording of events in Chinese history dates back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 ...

, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage rulers, and the first

Emperors of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...

. Today, they are considered

culture heroes A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group ( cultural, ethnic, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or discovery. Although many culture heroes help with the creation of the world, most culture heroes are imp ...

, but they were widely worshipped as divine "ancestral spirits" in ancient times. According to received history, the period they existed in preceded the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradi ...

, although they were thought to exist in later periods to an extent in incorporeal forms that aided the Chinese people, especially with the stories of

Nüwa Nüwa, also read Nügua, is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay. In the Huainanzi ...

existing as a spirit in the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

and

Shennong Shennong (), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerat ...

being identified as the godly form of

Hou Ji Hou Ji (or Houji; ) was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing millet to humanity during the time of the Xia dynasty.. Millet was the original staple grain of northern China, prior to the introduction of wheat. His name transl ...

and a founder of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

. In myth, the Three Sovereigns were demigods who used their abilities to help create mankind and impart to them essential skills and knowledge. The Five Emperors were exemplary sages who possessed great moral character, and were from a golden age when "communications between the human order and the divine were central to all life" and where the sages embodied the divine, or aided humans in communicating divine forces. In this period the abdication system was used before

Qi of Xia Qi () was a Chinese king, the son of Yu the Great and the second sovereign of the Xia dynasty. He ruled for roughly nine to ten years.戴逸, 龔書鐸. 002(2003) 中國通史. 史前夏商西周. Intelligence press. . p. 40. Biography ...

violently seized power and established a hereditary monarchy.Feng, Shi (2009
"A Study of the Pottery Inscription 'Wen Yi 文邑'"
''Chinese Archaeology'', Vol. 9 (Issue 1), pp. 170-177
full text
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History

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

s and parables involving

shamanistic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

themes were likely inspired by Tungusic folklore, as were most ancient stories about the Sovereigns

Fuxi Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well ...

, and

Variations

There are six to seven known variations on which people constitute the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, depending on the source.劉煒/著. (2002) Chinese civilization in a new light. Commercial press publishing. ISBN 962-07-5314-3, p. 142. Many of the known sources were written in much later dynasties. Groupings of the Three Sovereigns consist of some combination of the following:

Suiren Suiren ( zh, , ''Suìrén'', lit. "Flint Man") appears in Chinese mythology and some works which draw upon it. He is credited as a culture hero who introduced humans to the production of fire and its use for cooking. He was included on some ...

Zhu Rong Rong Zhu (Standard Chinese, ch: 茸主; born March 7, 2000) is a Chinese mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight (MMA), Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Of Tibetan people, Tib ...

Gonggong Gonggong () is a Chinese water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpen ...

, the

Heavenly Sovereign The Heavenly sovereign () was the first Chinese legendary king after Pangu’s era. According to ''Yiwen Leiju'', he was the first of the Three Sovereigns. Name The book Lushi from the Song Dynasty records that his family name was Wang(望),h ...

, the

Earthly Sovereign The Earthly Sovereign () was the second Chinese legendary king after Pangu's era. According to ''Yiwen Leiju'', he was the second of the Three Sovereigns. Biography According to the "Basic Annals of the Three Sovereigns" (三皇本紀) in Sima Zh ...

, the

Human Sovereign The Human Sovereign (), otherwise called the Sovereign of Man, was the third Chinese legendary king after Pangu's era. According to ''Yiwen Leiju'', he was the third and last of the Three Sovereigns. Biography According to the "Basic Annals of ...

(in two varieties), and the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

. Groupings of the Five Emperors consist of some combination of the following: the Yellow Emperor,

Zhuanxu Zhuanxu (Chinese: trad. , simp. , pinyin ''Zhuānxū''), also known as Gaoyang ( t , s , p ''Gāoyáng''), was a mythological emperor of ancient China. In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, Zhu ...

Emperor Ku Kù (, variant graph ), usually referred to as Dì Kù (), also known as Gaoxin or Gāoxīn Shì () or Qūn (), was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He went by the name Gaoxin until receiving imperial authority, when he took the name Ku and th ...

Emperor Yao Emperor Yao (; traditionally c. 2356 – 2255 BCE) was a legendary Chinese ruler, according to various sources, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Ancestry and early life Yao's ancestral name is Yi Qi () or Qi (), clan name i ...

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

Shaohao Shaohao or Shao Hao ( "Lesser Brightness"), also known Jin Tian (金天), was a legendary Chinese sovereign. Shaohao is usually identified as a son of the Yellow Emperor. According to some traditions (for example the ''Book of Documents''), he is a ...

, Taihao, and the

Yan Emperor The Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese ruler in pre-dynastic times. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (''Yángtóu Shān'') just north of Baoji in Shaanxi Province as his homeland and ...

Three Sovereigns

The Three Sovereigns, sometimes known as the Three August Ones, were said to be

god-kings God king, or God-King, is a term for a deified ruler or a pagan deity that is venerated in the guise of a king. In particular, it is used to refer to: *the Egyptian Pharaohs *a sacred king in any other polytheistic faithWilfred L. Guerin, ''A Handbo ...

demigods A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" ( spiritual enlightenment). A ...

who used their magical powers, divine powers, or being in harmony with the

Tao ''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other philo ...

to improve the lives of their people. Because of their lofty virtue, they lived to a great age and ruled over a period of great peace. The Sovereigns have elements in common with ''xian'' from the

pantheon, such as the

's cloud-chariot and their supernatural abilities. Upon his death, the Yellow Emperor was "said to have become" a ''xian''. The Yellow Emperor is supposedly the ancestor of the ''

Huaxia ''Huaxia'' (華夏, ) is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various confederations of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people. Etymology The earliest ext ...

'' people. The

Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor () is the alleged burial site of the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) of China. It is located in Huangling County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, China. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor attained immort ...

was established in

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

to commemorate the ancestry legend. The Three Sovereigns are ascribed various identities in different historical texts, as shown in the table below:

Five Emperors

The Five Emperors were traditionally thought to have invented "fire, writing and irrigation". Like the Three Sovereigns, they are ascribed different identities depending on historical source, as shown in the table below:

Five Emperors family tree

Creation myth

There is the legend of the Four Clans (四氏) who took part in creating the world,

Youchao Youchao (, lit. "Nest-Owner") is the inventor of houses and buildings, according to China's ancient mythology. He is said to have been one of The Three August Ones in ancient China. He is an obscure figure, also known as Da Chao (). Tradition hold ...

-shi (有巢氏),

-shi (燧人氏),

Fu Xi Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well ...

-shi (伏羲氏), and

-shi (神農氏).

Legacy

These Sovereigns and Emperors are said to have helped introduce the use of fire, taught people how to build houses, and invented farming. The Yellow Emperor's wife is credited with the invention of silk culture. The discovery of

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and invention of the

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...

and

Chinese script Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

are also credited to the kings. After their era,

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominen ...

founded the

, traditionally considered the first dynasty in

Gallery

Image:Changchun-Temple-Jiazi-Dian-0330.jpg, The Hall of the Three Sovereigns in Changchun Si (), a

temple in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

File:Shennong3.jpg, Shennong tasting herbs to discover their qualities Image:Yellow Emperor.jpg, Historian's depiction of the Yellow Emperor File:Yellowemperor.jpg, Another depiction of the Yellow Emperor File:Shaohao - tumulus with a Shaohao Ling stele in front of it - P1050742.JPG,

Shaohao Tomb The Mausoleum of Shaohao () is located in the north-east of Jiuxian Village, on the eastern outskirts of the city of Qufu in Shandong Province, China. The mausoleum complex honours Shaohao, the son of the first mythical Chinese ruler (the Yellow ...

near

Qufu Qufu ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Shandong province, East China. It is located about south of the provincial capital Jinan and northeast of the prefectural seat at Jining. Qufu has an area of 815 square kilometers, and a total population of ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

History

Variations

Three Sovereigns

Five Emperors

Five Emperors family tree

Creation myth

Legacy

Gallery

References

Further reading