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  • Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors

    Greetings all,

    just wondering if anyone has any information on this era, "Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors" in Chinese history, I have become interested in learning more on Chinese history to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of our Art and how it evovled to what it is today and I am hoping for some help from my learned Shaolin brothers and sisters.

    I was thinking maybe information on like what was the level of technology at the time or what events of importance may have happened in that period, and if anyone is intersted we could take a "tour" through the dynasties to give an overall view of how our own and other arts developed.

    Any ideas or suggestions are most welcome!

  • #2
    Hello Padraig,

    Your post has prompted me to have a brief search of the topic on Wikipedia.

    I was once interested with Chinese history, before I was interested in World, particularly Western history.

    Some authors (I am not sure if they are historians) commented that during this era, Chinese people was tribal. Many events that happened were told in the form of myths. The three soveriegns and the five emperors were also described in rather mythical way.

    Two of the three sovereigns (Fuxi, Nuwo), as illustrated to a Chinese epic called "Shan Hai Jing", were actually not in human shape. No offense to them but, it is really what illustrated in Shanhaijing.

    In the Medicine, I remembered that my teacher taught me, one of the five emperor called Shennong-shi made great contribution to Traditional Chinese Medicine. He tasted many kinds of herbs including the poisonous.
    Jason Yap

    修身

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    • #3
      Hello Jason,

      thanks for your helpful reply,

      since I opened the thread I have been also doing a little research and found there is a lot of information on this early period of Chinese history although as you said alot of what I found is mythalogical so far.

      I think it would be helpful if I gave a little info on this period just in case anyone is interested and never heard of this era.

      The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were mythalogical rulers of ancient China predating the Xia dynasty, from 2852 BCE to 2205 BCE.

      Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong were the Three Sovereigns and the names of the Five Emperors were Huang di or the Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu, Emperor Ku, Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun.

      I will add a little more soon and Jason if you have any more information on this time I would be very grateful

      Comment


      • #4
        Hello Padraig,

        Thanks for your reply.

        This thread keeps bring back my memory from school time.

        Some notable events in this era, as I can recalled from my reading, is the war between Yellow Emperor's clan and Chi You's tribe. The event was depicted in myths, but reader can sense the savageness of this ancient warfare. The war ended with Chi You's defeat and death.

        Also from the book, Yellow Emperor's territory was in central China, far smaller than modern0day Chinese territory. Hongkong, Guangzhou, Fujian province were still not central to Chinese history until only slightly mentioned in the Warring States Era (2000 years after Five Emperors era) to The Three Kingdoms.

        For Nuwa, she was famous for "sealing broken sky". A myth that left us plenty of imagination.

        Well, a tour through dynaties could be interesting it will inevitably goes into the Warring States Era, The Three Kingdoms, which sees martial skills on horseback. In Han Dynasty, the flourish of Taoism. 500 years after the three Kingdoms, during the Tang Dynasty, the formal instituionalization of Shaolin Monastery when the Patriarch Bodhidarma came from India, and also the events of Moneky God Sun Wukong protecting Tangsazhang in the Journey To The West.

        It seems that my post is getting longer :0
        Jason Yap

        修身

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        • #5
          Great scholar's thread!

          Hello Brothers,

          This is a nice thread. I don't know a great deal about Chinese history (or any history, actually!) But I know a couple of interesting things about the Three Sovereigns that might be worthy of mention:

          Fuxi was reputed to have invented the Eight Trigrams (Ba Gua) upon having a vision of a divine tortoise with the lines marked on its shell. I think in some legends he was reputed to have the lower body of a snake or dragon? Perhaps someone can correct me on this. In my estimation he must have very high level sage to have formulated the trigrams.

          The discovery of the Ba Gua was a monumentally important event in Chinese history which greatly shaped the nations philosophy and sciences. Ba Gua Zhang Kung Fu has its basis in the philosophy of the Eight Trigrams.

          The Yi Jing or Classic of Changes records the development of the Ba Gua into the 64 Hexegrams, and their implications for humanity. If you are interested in the legacy of Fuxi, read this book! For English readers, I recommend the Richard Wilhelm translation.

          It is an incredible work that has untold applications in the realms of strategy, medicine, science, politics, martial arts, diplomacy, business ect. Over the centuries it has been contributed to and commented on by some of the greatest minds in Chinese, and indeed world history, including Confucius.

          Shen Nong is credited with the invention of agricultural practice in ancient China. He tested all manner of plants on himself, formulating the first materia medica. He was reputed to have a 'glass stomach' or 'stomach like a window' - a metaphor for his internal viewing skill whilst in deep meditation. This skill enabled him to comment on the various herbs and vegetables effects on his internal organs.

          There is one version of the story of how tea was discovered that credits Shen Nong with the discovery. After having eaten various kinds of poisonous herbs all day to determine their effects, Shen Nong happened upon the tea bush. He intuited that the plant might do him some good, and so ate handfuls of the leaves, thereupon curing himself of the poisonous effects of his experimental lunch.

          I don't know much much about Nu Wa, but there's a nice article about her on Wikipedia

          Kind Regards,

          Max

          Namo Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa

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          • #6
            Hello Jason and Max,

            I am enjoying the posts and looking forward to the journey ahead

            The great thing with a project like this is you can add as little or as much information as you like, one, two or two hundred lines and if a few more of us become involved, before we know it, we will be in the CE era!!.

            Many hands will make light and interesting work

            Here's a little more info on Nuwa: she is credited with creating animals and humans, the story goes that on the first day she created chickens, the second day she created sheep, the fourth day pigs, the fifth cows, the sixth day horses and on the seventh day she made man, created with yellow clay ( which I read from another site the clay was taken from the banks of the yellow river).

            Sounds very like the creation story from the Bible?

            Anyway by the Han Dynasty Nuwa was associated with her husband Fuxi and were considered the parents of humankind.

            Source:http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/..._Five_Emperors


            Here is a little on the first two Emperors:


            The Yellow Emperor (2697 B.C.E. to 2598 B.C.E) is considered the ancestor of all the Han Chinese in mythological history. His legendary victory in the war against Emperor Chi You at the battle of Zhuolu was considered to be the beginning of the Han nationality.

            Zhuanxu also known as Gaoyang, was the grandson of the Yellow Emperor, some of his contributions were a unified calender and astrology, began the Patriarchal system while doing away with the matriarchal system.

            source: http://history.cultural-china.com/en/46History5031.html

            Tomorrow I will go to the library and hopefully get some historical facts on this period.

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            • #7
              For me, one of the more interesting facets of the tale of Fu Xi and Nu Wa was that their land was swept with a great flood which left only them in their land to start over.
              少林華南台灣 Shaolin Wahnam Taiwan

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              • #8
                Dear Padraig.

                Thank you for starting such a nice and informative thread

                At some stage we hope to include a workshop on Chinese History in the Scholar Project. I think it fascinates many people.

                I am reading all the posts here with great interest and fascination, so I hope everybody continues to contribute. Well done to all so far

                Smile from the Heart,
                Joan
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                • #9
                  Dear Padraig and Shaolin Wahnam Family

                  Thank you for starting this thread and to all the others for contributing. It would be lovely to "walk through" Chinese history in this thread and of course even more so to enjoy a Scholar project on the topic at some point. Lets keep going. I had spent some time reading some books 2 years ago and it is a great opportunity to deliver them from the dust accumulated in the bookshelf and look at them again .

                  San Huang 3 Souverains/Kings/Lords Period - ca. 3000-2700 BCE
                  Can it be that there are different sets of names for the first period ? In the two books I own, I find Fu Xi and Shen Nong but also as the third name: Sui Ren. Sui Ren being considered the oldest one, associated with the invention of fire and eating cooked food. While Nuwa is said to be an older mythological deity/figure, associated with creation and re-creation. Researching on the web I also found this http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nuwa )


                  Five Emperors Period (Wudi)
                  - ca 2800-2100 BCE
                  Here is what I found additionally to what was mentioned already:

                  Huang Di - The Yellow Emperor : He invented: carts, boats, houses and the calendar. He also reared silk worms and wore silk clothes. To those studying Chinese Medicine: I am sure everybody read the book attributed to him (The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine/Huangdi Neijing), which is a classic and definitely worth reading if you are interested in the subject.

                  Zhuanxu/Gaoyan - grandson of Huang Di, was using his talents to maintain social order

                  Diku/Gaoxin - great grandson of Huang Di - won the people with his benevolent administration

                  Yao/Taotang Shi /Tang Yao - considered a sage-king, famous for his talents and virtues. He invented the strategy game Weiqi, better known in the west as Go.

                  Shun/Great Sun/Youyu-shi - lived long (100 years), was humble despite his powerful role, divided the kingdom into provinces and took care of the jurisdiction.

                  Andrea
                  Last edited by Andrea; 24 June 2010, 03:49 PM.
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                  • #10
                    Hello Shaolin Wahnam Family,



                    Thanks Sifu Joan for the support, and look forward to hearing more about the Chinese history Scholar workshop

                    Good to hear from you again Andrea and I am delighted that your on board.

                    Nice to get more info on the Five Emperors, I haven't come across Sui Ren, so I gave a quick look, came across the name but no details!, I will try and look into it some more. Look forward to hearing more from those dust free books!

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                    • #11
                      Some historical facts

                      Here is some factual history of the time, the myths are far more entertaining

                      Just to give an overall idea by 5000 BCE the climate in China was getting wetter and warmer so it gave way for people to settle and leave their hunting gathering days behind to grow crops and settle in the one area, mainly in river valleys. There was manufacturing in pottery, textiles and the tools at that time for hunting and survival were made from mainly wood and flints or other types of stone.


                      At the time of the Three Emperors and Five sovereigns there was a trade in styles as the East and West started to spread into each others lands and intricate ornaments were being made from Jade. Metal was also being used on a very small scale in the manufacture for weapons.

                      Source: Cambrige illlustrated history China, Patricia Buckley Ebrey.

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                      • #12
                        Adding to the previous post, there was a divide in culture before the time of the Three Sovereigns Five Emperors into East and West based on Burial and pottery Styles, as mentioned people began to spread out and styles/ideas were traded.

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                        • #13
                          Chinese inventions 3000 BCE - 2000 BCE

                          Here is some interesting inventions at the time of Three sovereigns Five Emperor period.


                          Rope made from Hemp.

                          Ink.

                          Irrigation and Canals which gave an increase in food production, transport.

                          The First Fire Drill by order of Huang Ti! brilliant

                          source:

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                          • #14
                            Martial Arts

                            Here is a paragraph taken from Sigungs Book, The Art of Shaolin KungFu.

                            "Chinese archaelogical discoveries show that the Stone-Age Chinese were well versed in martial arts and had large quantities of axes, spears and swords made from stones and bones. The earliest of these weapons, dated to more than 7,000 years ago, were of a suprisingly high standard. These prehistoric men employed martial arts individually in fighting amongst themselves and against animals, as well as collectively in tribal wars. Archealogical evidence suggests that during periods of peace, they performed dances based on martial art movements. Hence, the dance-like sets that you perform now when you practice KungFu may be traced back to these prehistoric ancestors!"

                            It is amazing to think that some movements in our Art could possibly be traced back to these ancient people, and what we practice today could be 7,000 years in the making.

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                            • #15
                              Religion

                              The religious beliefs and practises of the people in China 3000 BCE -2000 BCE were anamilstic in nature based on Jadeartifacts of turtles, birds and strange coiled dragons found at sites of stone ritual structures.

                              Also found at various sites were hundreds of Jade objects called bi (disc shaped) and cong (columns) which were supposed to have cosmoligical signifigance representing heaven and earth.


                              Human sacrifice was also a common act carried out to appease the gods for the welfare of the people.

                              (Jade is a very hard stone with a matted configuration of molecules that makes it exceptionally difficult to shape, it would have invovled alot of slow labour intensive work with use of abrasive sands to make ornaments with Jade).

                              Source: Cambridge History of China, Patricia Buckey Ebrey.

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