The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors

01

Chapter One: The Changing Rosters

7 entries

1. 01What Do the “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors” Mean?ConceptHISFOL
2. 02Why Is There No Fixed List of Three Sovereigns?ResearchHISFOL
3. 03The Five Emperors Also Have More Than One RosterResearchHISFOL
4. 04How Did “Sovereign” and “Emperor” Differ in Early Usage?ConceptHIS
5. 05How Did Culture Heroes Become Ancient Rulers?ResearchHISFOL
6. 06Why Did Ancient Genealogies Grow More Complete?ResearchHISFOLMED
7. 07How Should Conflicting Accounts Be Read?EncyclopediaARCHISFOL

02

Chapter Two: Fuxi, the Heavenly Sovereign

8 entries

1. 01FuxiFigureARCHISFOL
2. 02Where Does the Account of Fuxi Creating the Trigrams Come From?ResearchHISFOL
3. 03Why Are Nets and Hunting Attributed to Fuxi?ConceptHISFOL
4. 04Fuxi, Animal Keeping and the Name PaoxiResearchHISFOL
5. 05Did Fuxi Establish Marriage?ResearchHISFOL
6. 06Why Are Fuxi and Nüwa Paired in Han Images?ResearchARCHISFOL
7. 07How Did the Human-Headed Serpent Body Develop?ResearchARCHISFOL
8. 08What Layers Make Up the Fuxi Tradition?EncyclopediaARCHISFOLMED

03

Chapter Three: Shennong, the Earthly Sovereign

8 entries

1. 01ShennongFigureHISFOL
2. 02What Does Making the Plough and Plough-Handle Describe?ConceptHISFOL
3. 03Why Did Shennong Become an Ancestor of Agriculture?ResearchHISFOL
4. 04What Connects Shennong with the Midday Market?ResearchHIS
5. 05Early Textual Clues to Shennong Tasting HerbsResearchHISFOL
6. 06How Should “Seventy Poisons in One Day” Be Understood?ResearchHISFOL
7. 07Was the Shennong Bencao Jing Written by Shennong?ResearchHISMED
8. 08Were the Flame Emperor and Shennong Originally One Figure?ResearchHISFOL

04

Chapter Four: Xuanyuan, the Human Sovereign

8 entries

1. 01Yellow EmperorFigureARCHISFOL
2. 02What Versions Exist of the Battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou?ResearchHISFOLMED
3. 03How Did the Battle of Banquan Enter the Yellow Emperor Narrative?ResearchHISFOL
4. 04Why Are Writing, Vehicles and Dress Gathered into the Yellow Emperor’s Age?ResearchHISFOL
5. 05What Do Cangjie, Leizu and Ling Lun Represent?EncyclopediaHISFOL
6. 06Why Is the Huangdi Neijing Attributed to the Yellow Emperor?ResearchHISMED
7. 07Where Does the Yellow Emperor’s Dragon Ascension Belong?LegendHISFOL
8. 08How Did the Title “First Ancestor of Civilization” Develop?ResearchHISFOLMED

05

Chapter Five: Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Ku, Yao and Shun

9 entries

1. 01ShaohaoFigureHISFOL
2. 02ZhuanxuFigureHISFOL
3. 03Emperor KuFigureHISFOL
4. 04YaoFigureARCHISFOL
5. 05ShunFigureARCHISFOL
6. 06What Connects Zhuanxu with “Severing Earth from Heaven”?ResearchHISFOL
7. 07Why Is Emperor Ku a Junction of Several Ancestral Lineages?ResearchHISFOL
8. 08What Does Yao’s Commission to Xi and He Say about the Calendar?ResearchHIS
9. 09How Did Shun’s Filial Piety Become a Political Parable?ResearchHISFOL

06

Chapter Six: Abdication and Transition

6 entries

1. 01Was Yao–Shun Abdication History or a Political Ideal?ResearchARCHISFOL
2. 02Why Do Accounts of Conflict Exist beside Abdication?ResearchHISFOL
3. 03How Did Choosing the Worthy Shape Ancient Narratives?ConceptHIS
4. 04Can Archaeology Prove an Individual Five Emperor?ResearchARCHIS
5. 05Why Can the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Not Be Dated Precisely?ResearchARCHISFOL
6. 06From Shun to Yu: How Does the Story Approach the Early Dynasties?EncyclopediaARCHISFOL