The Early Emperors of China
Suiren, Fuxi and Shennong are known as the Three Sage Kings. They are the leaders of their time and they made many contributions and sacrifices to improve the lives of the people of ancient China.
Suiren was best remembered for discovering how to make fire by drilling wood. It allowed mankind to eat cooked food, and use fire to keep warm during the colder months and to ward off wild animals.
Many people remember Fuxi for creating the Bagua or Eight Trigram which became the basis of the Yi Qing or the Book of Changes. However not many remember that he taught people to domesticate animals and lay traps to catch fish, birds and other wild animals. Even lesser people know that he invented marriage and the laws that governs it as well a 35 strings musical instrument.
Shennong greatest contribution was teaching people to farm and for inventing many farming aids. He taught the people to grow rice, wheat, beans etc and invented barter trading. He also invested a 5 strings musical instrument.
Shennong risked his life by tasting hundreds of berries to seek remedies for illnesses. Despite being poisoned on many occasions, he carried on. One of the berries eventually took his life.
After Shennong, come Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Yao and Shun. They were collectively known as the Five Legendary Emperors.
Huangdi was a good leader. He knows how to maximize the ability of those around him to rule the country and come out with innovations that benefit his people.
Many contributions were credited to Huangdi. They include the development of a symbol based written language which became the foundation of the present day Chinese language. He also commissioned the compilation of, The Yellow Emperor’s Medicine Classic?as well as the Farmer’s Calendar which aided greatly in agriculture.
Huangdi advocated peace and avoided war. During his reign, the people enjoyed peace and prosperity and it ushered in the age of civilization for the Chinese people.
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.
Diku who succeeded Zhuanxu was a benevolent king. He was also the great grandson of Huangdi. Diku reorganized the government and created new ministries with clearly specified duties. They include the ministry of Land, Forestry, Water, Minerals and Fire. His other contribution included improving the Farmer’s calendar system.
Diku’s son Yao succeeded him. Like his father he was benevolent and industrious. He made some major changes to the calendar and altered the timing of planting that greatly increase the yield.
Yao was followed by Shun, his son in law. Shun was a filial son and this is despite the fact that he was ill-treated by his step mother and father. This virtue earned him a lot of fame and soon Yao came to know about it. He summoned Shun to his court and became his trusted assistant. He later 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.
Shun was the last of the Five Legendary Kings. After Shun come Yu who founded the Xia dynasty. Today we remember Yu most for his skills in controlling flooding that wreak havoc on his people.
