The Three Emperors and Five Emperors were the legendary "emperors" in China before the Xia Dynasty. From the era of Three Emperors to the era of Five Emperors, there is no exact number of calendar years, at least several thousand years. Peiligang culture and Jiahu culture discovered by modern archaeology in the Central Plains have entered the agricultural society from 7000 years ago to 10000 years ago. Among them, the tortoise bone symbol engraved with characters is similar to that of Shang Dynasty Oracle Bone Inscriptions about 3000 years ago. Three Emperors and Five Emperors are representatives of outstanding leaders in ancient China. 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. But different historians have different definitions of "Three Emperors and Five Emperors". Huang San has five theories, and so do the five emperors. There are different opinions about who is Huang San and who is the Five Emperors. Basically, whether according to historical records or myths and legends, people think that Huang San lived before the Five Emperors. Generally speaking, the Three Emperors era was a long time ago, or four or five thousand years to seven or eight thousand years ago or even longer, and the time span may be very large; The era of the Five Emperors was not far from the Xia Dynasty, more than 4,000 years ago.

Huang San: Huang San is the emperor's aunt's Fuxi's concubine Shennong. Reincarnation: Archaean Huanggu Huang San (1 year old), Fuxi, Shennong (Biography of Shangshu);

(2) Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong (Custom Yi Tong);

(3) Fuxi, Zhu Rong and Shennong (ditto);

(4) Fuxi, Shennong and Gonggong (same as above);

(5) Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi (ancient micro-books).

The latter view was popularized because of the influence of ancient Wei Shu, and Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi became the three oldest emperors in China. In addition, Huang San, together with the Emperor, Huangdi and Ren Huang, is called the Three Gods in Hanshu Weishu. Later, in Taoism, Huang San was divided into three groups: the third-grade emperor was human; In Huang San, people face snakes or dragons; In post-Huang San, Fuxi was the queen, Nuwa was the queen and Shennong was the queen. Five Emperors (1): Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Yao and Shun ("Da Dai Li Ji");

(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) Shao Hao, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Yao and 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;

(6) Huangdi (Xuanyuan), (Yang), (Red Anger), (White Rejection), (Swiss Precedent) and (Zhou Li Tianguan) symbolize all the people referred to in Huang San's theory and 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 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.