Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
Legendary rulers and culture heroes of prehistoric China, sometimes given regnal dates in the 3rd millennium BC
According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (Chinese: 三皇五帝; pinyin: Sān huáng wǔ dì) were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroes, 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, 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 existing as a spirit in the Shang dynasty and Shennong being identified as the godly form of Hou Ji and a founder of the Zhou dynasty.
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 violently seized power and established a hereditary monarchy.
History
Taoist beliefs consist of parables involving shamanistic themes, which is origin of most ancient stories about the Sovereigns Fuxi, Nüwa, and Shennong. The idea of the existence of five emperors appeared in the 5th century BC. Scholars believe the tradition of susception appeared in the early Warring States period to support the political agenda of the ministers, that frequently overthrew their state rulers.
Variations
There are six to seven known variations on which people constitute the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, depending on the source. Many of the known sources were written in much later dynasties.
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