The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were two groups of

mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

rulers in ancient north

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The Three Sovereigns supposedly lived long before The Five Emperors, who have been assigned dates in a period from 3162 BC to 2070 BC. Today they may be considered

culture hero 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 impo ...

es. The dates of these mythological figures may be fictitious, but according to some accounts and reconstructions, they supposedly 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 tradit ...

Description

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 Hand ...

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). ...

who used their divine abilities to improve the lives of the Chinese peoples and gift them essential skills and valuable knowledge. The Five Emperors are portrayed as exemplary ancestral sages who possessed a great moral character and lived to an extremely old age and ruled over a period of great Chinese peace. The Three Sovereigns on the other hand are ascribed various identities in different Chinese historical texts. These high kings are said to have helped introduce the first use of fire, taught people how to build good houses and farm.

Leizu Leizu (), also known as Xi Ling-shi (, Wade–Giles Hsi Ling-shih), was a legendary Chinese empress and wife of the Yellow Emperor. According to tradition, she discovered sericulture, and invented the silk loom, in the 27th century BC. Myths ...

, wife of Huangdi, is credited with the invention of

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

culture. The discovery of medicine, the invention of the calendar and Chinese script are also credited to the 5 Emperors. 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 promine ...

founded the

. According to a modern theory with roots in the late 19th century, 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 ...

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 ...

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 immor ...

was established in

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

to commemorate the ancestry legend. The Chinese word for emperor, ''huángdì'' (), derives from this, as the first user of this title

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...

considered his reunion of all of the lands of the former

Kingdom of Zhou 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 ...

to be greater than even the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

Clan

A related concept appears in the legend of the Four Clans (, ''Si Shi'') who took part in creating the world. The four members are Youchao-shi (), Suiren-shi (),

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 ...

-shi (), and Shennong-shi (). The list sometimes extends to one more member being

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 Huaina ...

-shi (), making Five Clans (, ''Wu Shi''). Four of these five names appear in different lists of the Three Sovereigns. Shi (氏) means clan or family, so none of them are a single person in prehistoric times. There is a saying that the Three Sovereigns are Suiren-shi (), Youchao-shi (), and Shennong-shi (). The Suiren taught people to drill wood for fire so people could easily migrate. The Youchao taught people to build houses out of wood, so that people could leave caves to expand into the plains. After the number of people grew, Shennong tried a variety of grasses to find suitable herbs to solve people's food problems. The tribes also used the sovereigns' respective contributions as the name of the tribes.

Variations

Depending on the source, there are many variations of who classifies as the Three Sovereigns or the Five Emperors. There are at least six to seven known variations. Many of the sources listed below were written in much later periods, centuries and even millennia after the supposed existence of these figures, and instead of historical fact, they may reflect a desire in later time periods to create a fictitious ancestry traceable to ancient

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 import ...

. The Emperors were asserted as ancestors of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The following appear in different groupings of the Three Sovereigns:

(),

(), Shennong (), Suiren (), Zhurong (), Gong Gong (),

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 ...

(), Earthly Sovereign (), Tai Sovereign (), Human Sovereign (), and even the

(). The following appear in different groupings of the Five Emperors:

(Taihao/), Yan Emperor (),

(),

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 ...

(),

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, Z ...

(),

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 t ...

(), Emperor Yao (),

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 ...

().

Lineage of the Five Emperors

Gallery

File:NuwaFuxi1.JPG,

and

File:Anonymous-Fuxi and Nüwa3.jpg, Another depiction of

and

File:Shennong2.jpg, Shennong File:Yellowemperor.jpg,

File:EmperorZhuanxu.jpg,

File:Diku.jpg,

File:EmperorYao.jpg, Emperor Yao File:EmperorShun.jpg,

File:Chi You.gif, Chi You

Description

Clan

Variations

Lineage of the Five Emperors

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Further reading