Three august and five emperors

The Three Augusts and Five Emperors (Chinese: 三皇五帝, pinyin: sān huáng wǔ dì) are the mythological rulers of China before the First Xia Dynasty.

Chinese tradition attributes to these mythological characters the founding of Chinese civilization and the invention of social, cultural and economic institutions, such as the family, agriculture, writing, etc. Despite the legendary nature of the stories told about these characters, who would have lived for hundreds of years and would be responsible for miraculous events, it is possible that the origin of these legends were real people, tribal chiefs from the 3rd millennium BC. C. who would have achieved military victories prior to the unification of the also possibly mythical Xia dynasty.

Chinese historical sources agree on the number of three august and five emperors, but the identities of these vary according to the sources, there are different versions for both the august and the emperors.

Three Augusts

There are several versions of the identities of the three august (三皇 sān huáng)

• Heavenly Augustus (scancer) Augusto Terrenal (CHUCKLES) and Augusto Tài (T Tàihuáng), according to the Historical memories Sima Qian.
• Heavenly Augustus, Augusto Terrenaland Human Augusto (Ré Rénhuáng), according to the work of the Song dynasty Tàipíng Yùlăn (御), which quotes a work of the Western Han dynasty, the Chūnqiū Wěi (urge春). This list differs from the above only in the use of a slightly different name for the third august.
• Suiren, Fuxi and Shennongaccording to the Shàngshū dàzhuàn and the Báihѕ Tōngyì (urge).
• Fuxi, Nüwa and Shennongaccording to the Yùndòu Shū and the Yuanmìng Bāo (date).
• Fuxi, Shennong and Yellow Emperoraccording to the Dìwáng Shìjì ().giving).
• Fuxi, Shennong and Gònggōng according to the Tōngjiàn Wàijì (window 外).).).).m

The Baihutong (白虎通) mentions the fire god Zhùróng (祝融) instead of Gonggong. ^{[citation required]}

Five Emperors

The most common identities of the five emperors (五帝 wǔ dì) are those mentioned in various ancient writings, such as the Historical Memoirs, the Shìběn (世本) or the Dàdàijì (大戴記). According to these works, the five emperors are as follows:

• The Yellow Emperor.
• Zhuānxù ().).
• Dìkù (),), or simply Kú ().).
• Tángyáo or simply Yáo ().).
• Yúshù (),), or simply Shùn ().).

Other versions of the identities of these five emperors are that of the Book of Rites (禮記 Lǐjì): Tàihào (太皞) （identified with Fuxi）, Yándì (炎帝) （identified with Shennong), the Yellow Emperor, Shǎohào (少皞) and Zhuanxu. For its part, the Preface to the classic documents (尚書序 Shàngshū Xù) and the Dìwáng Shìjì (帝王世紀) contain another version: Shǎohào (written here 少昊）, Zhuanxu, Gāoxīn (高辛) （identified with Diku）, Tangyao and Yushun. the five emperors with the five gods of the cardinal points (in Chinese tradition the "center" is considered one more cardinal point), as in the version collected in the Elegies of Chu (楚辭 chǔcí): Taihao (East), Yandi (South), Shaohao (West), Zhuanxu (North) and the Yellow Emperor (Center).