The Three Sage Kings and the Five Legendary Emperors
The Three Sage Kings of ancient China were Suiren, Fuxi and Shennong. They made personal sacrifices to improve the lives of the people. Today they are remembered for the many unique contributions to the Chinese people and mankind in general.
The first sage King was Suiren (approx. 16,000 BC) who reputedly discovered how to make fire by drilling wood. With fire mankind could eat cooked food, keep warm and protect themselves from wild animals.
Fuxi taught people how to domesticate animals. He also taught them to make nets to catch fish, birds and wild animals and in the process ensure the supply of food all year round. He was also responsible for creating the institution of marriage and the for a 35 string musical instrument. His most important contribution however was the Bagua or Eight Trigram that formed the basis for the all important I Ching or Book of changes.
Shennong alias Yandi was credited with the invention of the rake, spade, plough and sickle. He taught people how to grow five types of cereals and he formulated barter trade. He was also credited for modifying Fuxi’s 35 strings musical instrument into a 5 strings one.
However he was best remembered for tasting hundreds of wild herbs to find remedies to treat illnesses. In the process he suffered continually from poisoning and eventually die from eating one too many.
The Five Legendary Rulers, Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Yao and Shun then succeeded the Three Sage Kings.
Huangdi had strong management skills. He knows how to select the right people and motivate them to rule the country and to come out with innovations that benefit the people. Many great achievements were attributed to him.
With the help of his many talented subjects, Huangdi developed a written language for the Chinese people. He also commissioned the compilation of The Yellow Emperor’s Medicine Classic which became the foundation of Chinese Medicine today. Finally we also developed a Farmer’s or Chinese Solar Calendar.
Huangdi was a man of peace and did not like war. During his rule, there was peace, stablility and prosperity in his kingdom.
Zhuanzu was not Huangdi’s son but he was chosen over Huangdi’s other son because of his ability. He is best remembered for bring law and order to his people and for concentrating power within the central authority.
Zhuanxu was succeeded by Diku who is a great grandson of Huangdi. Diku expanded the government by creating new posts and ministries that handles specific duties. These ministries include Land, Forestry, Water, Minerals and Fire. He was a benevolent King who put his people’s welfare above himself and he conducted person inspections to see that the country was running well.
Diku was succeeded by his son Yao. Yao was very much like his father ?benevolent and industrious. He improved the calendar system and modified planting to produce bigger harvests.
After Yao come Shun who was his son in law. Shun was ill treated by his step mother and father when he was a child. Despite this he continued to be filial and this earned him a lot of respect and fame. King Yao summoned Shun to his court to assist him. Shun eventually married Yao’s daughter.
Shun made many organizational changes. For example he divided the country into 12 states each with their own administrator. He also set the department of farming, music, rites, works, water and land. For the dukes and princes, he drafted many rules and regulations including the five rules of etiquette.
After Shun comes Yu. Yu founded the Xia Dynasty and he was credited for his ability to control the floods. More on Yu in future articles.