How many Three Emperors and Five Emperors really existed in history?
Three Sages King and Five Emperors —— Legendary Rulers of China in Ancient Times.
The earliest system of ancient history in China. In the ancient historical legends of China, several theories of "Five Emperors" were formed during the Warring States Period. The word "Huang San" appeared at the end of the Warring States Period, and it was not until the Han Dynasty and before the Five Emperors that several theories of "Huang San" were formed.
The original meaning of "yellow" is "big" and "beautiful", and it is not used as a noun. At the end of the Warring States period, because the word "emperor" of God was used as the title of master, the word "emperor" was used to address God, such as the western emperor, the eastern emperor and God in Chu Ci. At that time, it was also called "Huang San" under the names of emperors, Huangdi and Tai Huang. In Zhou Li, Lv Chunqiu and Zhuangzi, "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" and "Guan Zi" also explain the different meanings of emperor, emperor, king and tyrant respectively, but their names have not been confirmed.
The Three Emperors and Five Emperors were the legendary "emperors" in China before the Xia Dynasty. Now it seems that they are all tribal leaders, and they have become the leaders of tribal alliances because of their strength. Qin Shihuang used the titles of "Emperor" of Huang San and "Emperor" of the Five Emperors to show his lofty status. Basically, according to myths and historical records, people think that Huang San lived before the Five Emperors. But different historians have different definitions of "Three Emperors and Five Emperors". Huang San has five theories, and so do the five emperors. (1) Sui people, Fuxi, Shennong (Biography of Shangshu);
(2) Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong (Custom Yi Tong);
(3) Fuxi, Zhu Rong and Shennong (ditto);
(4) Fuxi, Shennong and * * * workers (ditto);
(5) Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi (ancient micro-books).
Five legendary rulers
① Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Yao and Shun ("Dai");
(2) Dongxi, Shennong, Huangdi, Yaoshun (Warring States Policy);
(3) Tai Hao, Yan Di, Huangdi, Shao Hao and Zhuan Xu (Lv Chunqiu);
(4) Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Yao (The Collection of Foreign Assets).
(5), Zhuan Xu, Yao, Shun (pseudo "Preface to Shangshu"); This theory will be adopted by history books in the future because of its respect for the status of Confucian classics. So this theory of three emperors and five emperors was regarded as the history of ancient beliefs;
The symbol of three emperors and five emperors
Generally speaking, the man referred to in Huang San's theory is the symbol of China ancestors in different prehistoric cultural stages. There are three stages in the period of ignorance: low stage, intermediate stage and advanced stage. Shennong represents the lower stage of barbarism; On the other hand, Nu Wa is an earlier creator. In mythology, she and Fuxi combined to create human beings. The people referred to in the Five Emperors Theory are mainly some tribal chiefs or military leaders in the heyday of patriarchal clan alliance and its disintegration or the military democratic period at the end of primitive society.
Most people think that Sui Ren, Fu and Shennong are called "Huang San", while Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Yao Di and Shun Di are called "Five Emperors". These views originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Pan Gu
Is the protagonist of the well-known story of Pangu's creation of the world. It is said that Pangu opened the world with an axe. This story spread to the Northern Wei Dynasty and then to the North via Li Daoyuan. Since then, Pangu has evolved from a myth spread among southern ethnic minorities into the legendary ancestor of the Chinese nation.
Guangwu Bozhi (Jiuxing) Five-year Games Chronology
Yesterday's death of Pangu was also the first of the four mountains, the eye of the sun and the moon, the fat of the river and the sea, and the hair of the grass. According to the custom between Qin and Han dynasties, Pangu's head is Dongyue, the abdomen is Zhongyue, the left arm is Nanyue, and the right arm is Beiyue, and Xiyue is enough. The ancients said: Pangu's tears are rivers, qi is wind, and his eyes are electricity. The ancients said: Pangu is happy for the purpose, and anger is yin. Wu Chu said: Pangu couple, the beginning of Yin and Yang. Today, there is a 300-mile-long ancient tomb in the South China Sea, and the soul of Pangu is also buried by later generations. Guilin has Pangu Temple worshipped by modern people, and the South China Sea has Pangu Kingdom. Today, people take Pangu as their surname. Pangu, the ancestor of all things, creatures began in Pangu.
After Pangu, the ancestor of the Chinese nation, became immortal, his body organs were transformed into the sun, moon and stars, the four poles and five mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, and all living things. Although this legend contains mythical elements, it provides reference materials for us to study the Sun God and Moon God in China. According to the calendar of the May Movement Calendar, the sun, moon and Er Shen of the Chinese nation are transformed by Pangu's eyes, and the sun god is transformed by Pangu's left eye. The moon god incarnated as Pangu's right eye, and the folk custom of "male left and female right" came from this.
Sui Renshi is a legendary inventor, which has been recorded in ancient books before Qin Dynasty. Sui people, Shangqiu area was a mountain forest in ancient times. Suiren, who lives in the mountains, often preys on wild animals. When rocks that hit wild animals collide with rocks, sparks often occur. Inspired by this, Suiren hit a stone with a stone, lit the tinder with the generated sparks, and made a fire. This fire-making method was still used in Shangqiu countryside thirty years ago. At that time, a saint was inspired by the sparks generated by birds pecking at wood, so he broke off the branches of wood and drilled wood to make a fire. He taught people this method. Since then, human beings have learned to make artificial fire, bake food, light it, keep warm, and smell it with fire, and human life has entered a new stage. People call this saint the Suiren surname, and call him "the head of Huang San".
Fu Xishi
Fu, also known as Bao and Dong. It is said that he is a great inventor and has made great contributions to the people. "Bao family gossip, understand the virtues of the gods, the feelings of all things." He also invented "tethered net fishing" to benefit the people. These are two great inventions. Of course, the emergence of this new thing in society is the result of people's collective labor, not the gift of a "saint". But this legend tells us that Fuxi clan began to use notation and learned how to weave nets and fish. Xihe River is also called Taihao Fuxi. It is said that Hua Xushi stepped on Thor's footprints and gave birth to a son. He can "go up and down" along the building timber growing in the wild in Du Guang as a ladder.
Fuxi has many inventions, and Fu is one of the earliest wise men in the history of China literature. Fu has a keen observation of things and a deep affection for the land. At the same time, he has superhuman wisdom. Fu Xishi described everything he observed with a mathematical symbol (this binary mathematical model has become the cornerstone of the development of computer technology today), which is gossip. It is mainly said that he sat on a square altar, listened to the music of the wind from all directions, and drew eight kinds of hanging hexagrams, namely □ (dry) ,□ (Kun) ,□ (earthquake) ,□ (ridge) ,□ (separation) ,□ (root) and□ (communication), which are called "eight diagrams". He also imitated spiders to weave webs and make fishing nets. According to this principle, his courtier Ju Mang became a bird catcher. Fuxi also made a harp, which created the joy of driving and arguing. The dawn of ancient civilization began to appear in the legendary Fuxi era. In ancient times, in the east of Jin Meng, there was a river connected with the Yellow River, from which Longma drew negative films. According to the Dragon-Horse Diagram, Fu drew a divinatory diagram with the contents of Gan, Jiao, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen and Kun, which was later called Fuxi Bagua. Fu looked up at the images in the sky, looked down at the dharma on the ground, and explained the evolution law and human relations order of everything in heaven and earth with Yin and Yang gossip. Fu concluded a book contract, got married properly and taught fishing and hunting, which ended people's ignorant history and created Chinese civilization. Malong Futu Temple became the "source of river map", while Fu was regarded as the "ancestor of human roots" and "ancestor of humanity" of the Chinese nation. The biography of Han Kong Anguo said: "The dragon horse is the essence of heaven and earth, and its shape is also good, and its body is Longlin, so it is called the dragon horse. The dragon and horse are red and green, and they are eight feet and five inches high. It has wings like a camel, and the sage is in the throne. The negative picture comes from central Meng He. "
Legend has it that Fuxi was born in (now Qin 'an County, Tianshui City, Gansu Province), grew up in Xinle (now Hebei Province) and died in Wanqiu County, Chenchen, Guzhou (now Huaiyang, Henan Province). Reference: Story: "Chen, Wan Qiu, Shun Hou Gui Man Yin". Chen Xuan and others said: Chen Zhe is a big sky, a place to draw gossip, and it is the beginning of Mu De, so it follows Mu De. "
"Continued Natural History" Volume 4: "Six Auxiliary Sacrifices: Gold is the master of vulgarization, birds are the master of benefits, and evil spirits are the master. Jitong is a secondary vocational school, with land and sea in the middle and rivers and seas in Yanghou. "
"Empress Family" Taoist History Volume II: "Tai Hao's decline, * * * workers began to make an insurrection, flooding, so that the country and people were devastated, the sky were to fall, and the Jedi precepts were built in Hebei, China, and the people were in dire straits. Nu Wa's service for her divine power is more touching than that of * * * *. Then the four poles are positive, Jizhou is peaceful, the ground is flat and natural, and everything is resurrected. " Yin Benji quoted Tang Patent: "Chiyou and his doctors were rioting the people in the past". "Zhou Shu Lu Xing": "If there was a training in ancient times, Chiyou began to be chaotic." "Yi Zhou Shu Taste Wheat Solution": "At the beginning of the past, it was the second, and the code was established, and the life was called the second Qing, and it was ordered to live in the neighborhood, so as to celebrate the unfinished celebration of the sky. Chiyou is chasing the emperor for the position of Zhuolu. Chi Di was frightened by the Yellow Emperor. He killed Chiyou in Zhongji. Relieve the anger with a soldier, think in order with the atmosphere festival, and be punished by the emperor. In name, it is called' the absolute wilderness'. He was appointed as an official of the five emperors of the Qing Dynasty in Shao Hao, hence the name "Quality". As for today, it's not chaotic. Case: The first two paragraphs use the word "beginning with chaos and eventually abandoning", and the last paragraph is called "starting yesterday", and Chiyou pursues the emperor. It shows that the era of Fuxi, Nu Wa, * * Gong, Chiyou, Huangdi and China is the beginning of the history of these documents. In this way, we can guess that the beginning of China's history in the eyes of those literary writers is the "Five Emperors Era". The "Five Emperors Era" in this chronology began in the first year of Fuxi (about 2400 BC) and ended in the last year of Shun Di (2 1 10 BC), which is about 29 1 year (=2400-2 109). That is to say, the history of China in the eyes of the ancients originated around 2300 BC, when Luxi and Yudong enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. Reference: ① Huainanzi Astronomical Training: "In the past, workers and Zhuan Xu fought for the emperor. In a rage, they couldn't touch the mountain, the sky broke and the land was lost." (2) "Huai Nan Zi's Original Daoism": "The force of the past * * * did not touch the hills, making the land tilt to the southeast. Competing with Gao Xin for the emperor, he sneaked into Yu Garden. If the clan is destroyed, it will be destroyed. " (3) "Liezi Tang Wen": "After the * * public and Zhuan Xu fought for the emperor, they were angry and couldn't reach the mountain. The sky was broken and the land was lost." (4) On Mandarin and Lu: "* * * The public has nine uncles, whose thick soil can level nine soils, so they worship the country." 5 Huai Nan Zi? The book says, "During the Shunzhi period, * * * workers shook the flood, leaving thin and empty mulberry trees. Longmen is closed, Lvliang is underdeveloped, Jianghuai flows through it, and it is universal, and all the people go to mountains and rivers. Shun means letting Yu dredge the three rivers and five lakes, open up the Yi Que, guide the rivers and streams, level the ditches and land, and flow into the East China Sea. Flood discharge, Kyushu dry, and all the people are good. " ⑥ Author's Notes: "The Yellow Emperor is the watershed of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, so some ancient scholars regarded the Yellow Emperor as the last generation of Huang San, while others thought that the Yellow Emperor was the first of the Five Emperors. "
Fuxi later became the emperor of the East, and his courtier Ju Mang became his god. Ju Mang is in the shape of a bird and a human face, driving two dragons. He runs oriental green soil trees in two places in Yuanye, and is the God of Spring.
Shennong
Shennong is the legendary Emperor Yan. Emperor Yan is the sun god of China, and it is said that he is also the god of agriculture, teaching people to farm, and also the god of medicine. According to legend, Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and made medicine. Legend has it that Shennong died of poisonous herbs he tried. He is the legendary land god in charge of crops. Probably refers to the clan name of the primitive society where agriculture began to develop. According to records, people used to eat raw meat, drink animal blood and wear animal skins. Shennong believes that it is difficult for people to live like this. So he "tasted the essence of a hundred herbs, observed their sufferings, and taught the people to eat grains." In fact, agricultural production knowledge is the accumulation of ancient human practical experience. Shennong does not exist. Later, it was speculated that Shennong's deeds roughly reflected the social situation during the prosperous period of matriarchal clan system.
According to the ancient book Huainanzi in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, "Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and encountered seventy poisons a day". There is also a touching myth and legend in Sichuan. It is said that Shennong tried all kinds of herbs to treat people. One day, he tasted a highly toxic Herba Lysimachiae, and finally his intestines were broken, giving his life for the people. Shennong also teaches people to trade and exchange: "Shennong takes Japan and China as the city, takes the people of the world and collects the wealth of the world. After the transaction, he will retreat and make progress, and each has his own place." These legends are that his ancestor Yan Di was deified by later generations, which shows that he, like the Yellow Emperor, is the ancestor of Chinese civilization.
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor is the legendary ancestor of the Chinese nation. According to legend, he was born in Jishui, so his surname was Ji, and he lived in the hill of Xuanyuan, so he was named Xuanyuan. There are bears in China, also known as the Xiong family.
The yellow emperor is flexible and eloquent, and his moral sentiment is noble. He is regarded as the leader of nomadic tribes in northwest China. He formed an alliance with Emperor Yan, defeated the invasion of Jiuli nationality led by Chiyou, and became the leader of the tribal alliance on behalf of Shennong, becoming the "Yellow Emperor". Legend has it that after defeating Chiyou, there were three wars with Yan Di tribe in Hanquan. The Yellow Emperor commanded clans with beasts such as bears, scorpions, raccoons and tigers as totems to participate in the war, defeated Yan Di tribes and entered the Yellow River valley. Since then, the Huangdi tribe has settled in the Central Plains and developed rapidly. According to the historical records, "Twenty-five descendants of the Yellow Emperor, 14 of them have surnames, which are twelve surnames", indicating that these tribes have formed a huge tribal alliance.
It is for this reason that many inventions are attributed to the Yellow Emperor by later generations, saying that he used jade as a weapon, built boats and bows, and dyed colorful clothes. He asked his wife Leizu to teach people to raise silkworms. He ordered Cang Xie, the minister, to make great efforts to make words, and ordered Ling Lun to make musical instruments. These legends are unreliable and can only be understood as great progress in the production tools of the Yellow Emperor era.
Yao, Shun, Xia, Shang and Zhou in history are all descendants of the Yellow Emperor, so they are called "descendants of Xuanyuan" and "descendants of the Yellow Emperor". The descendants of the Yellow Emperor merged with other tribes to form the Chinese nation, and Xuanyuan of the Yellow Emperor was regarded as the ancestor of the Chinese nation.
The earliest system of ancient history in China. In the ancient historical legends of China, several theories of "Five Emperors" were formed during the Warring States Period. The word "Huang San" appeared at the end of the Warring States Period, and it was not until the Han Dynasty and before the Five Emperors that several theories of "Huang San" were formed.
The original meaning of "yellow" is "big" and "beautiful", and it is not used as a noun. At the end of the Warring States period, because the word "emperor" of God was used as the title of master, the word "emperor" was used to address God, such as the western emperor, the eastern emperor and God in Chu Ci. At that time, it was also called "Huang San" under the names of emperors, Huangdi and Tai Huang. In Zhou Li, Lv Chunqiu and Zhuangzi, "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" and "Guan Zi" also explain the different meanings of emperor, emperor, king and tyrant respectively, but their names have not been confirmed.
There are five theories about "Huang San" in human history defined by Han Dynasty: ① Shangshu was known as Sui people, Fuxi and Shennong. "Han Liwen's Family" and "Preface to the Annals of the Spring and Autumn Annals" also said the same thing, focusing on Xiangren. (2) The pivot of Chunqiu Dou Yun is Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong. (3) The Book of Rites was written by Fuxi, Zhu Rong and Shennong. "The Book of Filial Piety" is the same as "The Book of Rites", but Zhu Rong comes last. (4) Biography of White Tiger is said to be the work of Fuxi, Shennong and * * *. ⑤ In the ancient history system listed in the Book of Songs at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Shao Hao Jintian was added between Huangdi and Zhuan Xu, and an emperor was added in addition to the "Five Emperors" mentioned in the Warring States Period. Therefore, some people promoted the Yellow Emperor, the first of the Five Emperors, to Huang San, alongside Fuxi and Shennong. First of all, Zheng holds this view, and Zhang Heng's Book of Emperor Shun of Han Dynasty and Huangfu Mi's Hundred Years of Emperor also follow this view. Then the pseudo "Preface to Shangshu" preached this theory. Since then, Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi have become the three oldest emperors in the history of China. In fact, all the above theories are myths fabricated by Shu Wei after the end of the Western Han Dynasty.
There is also a legend of Huang San among the gods in the Han Dynasty. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Huang San was elected emperor, and Huangdi and Ren Huang were called Shu Wei's Preface to the Life Calendar in the Spring and Autumn Period and the "Beginning of Learning". Huang San in Taoist classics is divided into three groups: the former, the middle and the latter: "san huang" also has human figures (one said that they are twelve heads, eleven heads and nine heads respectively); There are thirteen heads, eleven heads and nine heads in the face, snake body or dragon body of Zhong (according to legend, Emperor Zhong is the Youchao family and Zhong is the Suiren family); After Huang San, the head of the queen snake was Fuxi, the head of the queen rehmannia was Nuwa, and the head of the queen cow was Shennong. Stone reliefs and silk paintings in the Han Dynasty are full of this image.
The word "emperor" originally refers to the heavenly emperor, but the word "five emperors" did not appear in the Mencius era. His book only mentions "three kings and five tyrants". Only in Xunzi did the word "five emperors" come before "three kings", but no one named them. Only Yao, Shun, Yu and Tang are called "Four Emperors" in On Soldiers. There is a saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War that "the Yellow Emperor is superior to the Four Emperors", which seems to be called the Four Emperors and Five Emperors (but Mei said that the word "emperor" was a mistake of "army"). Both Guanzi and Zhuangzi mentioned "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" many times, neither of which refers to their real names. In fact, from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many names of ancient emperors or gods. Generally speaking, Huangdi, Boyi, * * Gong, Gun, Yu, April, Ji (waste), Gao, Xuan Tao, Gao Ji and Chang lived in the west. Unknown areas include Di Hong's family, Jinyun's family, Jintian's family, Shanshi Lie's family, and Tang Tao's family (the first two may be in the west, and the last three may be in the east). From east to west, including Boan, concubine, etc. , while those from the east and one from the south have Zhu Rong, that is, Chongli, and their descendants' eight surnames (such as Ji Lian's surname Chu Zu) and so on. Twelve ancient emperors and other ancient emperors mentioned repeatedly in the book are listed in Zhuangzi, 15 in Tamia Liu and 26 in Yizhoushu. Due to the gradual establishment of the five elements theory in the late Warring States period, everything must be combined into a number, so it is necessary to list the "five emperors" among the many ancient emperors mentioned above, so the following five theories of the five emperors appeared.
(1) "Five Emperors" said Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Yao and Shun. According to their praise in Mandarin Lu Yu. The imperial clan fabricated a lineage with the Yellow Emperor as its ancestor. Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Records of Five Emperors inherited this theory.
② The connection between the Warring States policy put forward by Shennong, Huangdi, Yao and Shun and Yi. Zhuangzi, Huai Nan Zi Shu Zhen Xun and San also have this statement. Tongjian is opposed to the theory of three emperors and five emperors, but the earliest emperors listed in it are these five.
(3) Tai Hao, Yan Di, Huangdi, Shao Hao and Zhuan Xu were recorded in the Twelve Dynasties of Lu, Chun and Qiu. That's what The Book of Rites Moon Order says. Wang Fu's On the Hidden Husband brought the ancient emperors into the blood-yin system of the Five Emperors.
(4) The ancient history system arranged in The Book of Songs is based on the twelve periods and the monthly orders. There is Shao Hao between the Yellow Emperor and Zhuan Xu, and Zheng Xuan added Shao Hao to the former five emperors, saying that there are six of them, all of which are consistent with them. However, since the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Zheng Jiming" and other theories promoted the Yellow Emperor to one of the Huang San, followed by Huangfu Mi's "The Emperor's Century", and the following five people in Shao Hao were five emperors. Therefore, The False Preface of Shangshu is named Huang San after Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi in front of the world classics, and Shao Hao, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku and Yaoshun are the five emperors behind. This theory will be adopted by history books in the future because of its respect for the status of Confucian classics. So this theory of "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" was regarded as the history of ancient beliefs.
⑤ The Portrait of Xiao Yan quoted in Zi Zhi Tong Jian seems to be the latest one, with Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Kun and Yao as five emperors. However, Wu Liang only has more than 600 volumes of general history. According to Chen Li's White Tiger Certificate, the portrait tablet of Wuliangzong Temple may be a mistake, but this statement still comes from the mouth of Han people.
As for the mythical gods, they were all called emperors in Shan Hai Jing, and later they were also called "Five Emperors". For example, there is a phrase in the Songs of the South, which refers to God together with "pointing to heaven" and "abstaining from six gods". There is a saying in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yan Zi that "Chu witches seek the virtues of five emperors", which obviously refers to the Heaven Emperor. Therefore, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang said in Historical Records: "I heard that there are five emperors in the sky." That is to say, it became popular at the end of the Warring States period. At the same time, there is the theory of five-color emperors, offering sacrifices to the four gods of Bai, Qing, Huang and Yi, and Gao Han offering sacrifices to Hei Di Temple. To the spring and autumn latitude and Wen Yao hook, the five-color emperor famously said: "Cangdi said Lingwei, and the emperor also said red anger, Huangdi said hub, Baidi said white but refused, and Hei Di said juice light." Zheng Xuan's annotation on the sentence "Wang Tugu Na Xin" in the Book of Rites, that is, he quoted these names as "Five Emperors of Taiwei" and said that "the ancestors of Wang all thought that the essence of the Five Emperors was too small to make a living". The five emperors on the earth are said to be born of the five emperors in the sky, and put forward the fallacy of "feeling the emperor", which Wang Su has rejected.
Generally speaking, the people referred to in "Huang San Theory" are the symbols of China ancestors in different prehistoric cultural stages. There are three stages in the period of ignorance: low stage, intermediate stage and advanced stage. Shennong represents the lower stage of barbarism; On the other hand, Nu Wa is an earlier creator. In mythology, she and Fuxi combined to create human beings. The "Five Emperors Theory" refers to some tribal chiefs or military leaders in the heyday of patriarchal clan alliance and the disintegration of military democracy.