Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors

Legendary Chinese ruler, one of the Five Emperors, later worshipped as a god

Legendary rulers and culture heroes of prehistoric China, sometimes given regnal dates in the 3rd millennium BC

Fuxi or Fu Hsi is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie system of writing Chinese characters around 2900 BC or 2000BC. He is also said to be the originator of bagua (the eight trigrams) after observing that there were eight fundamental building blocks in nature: heaven, earth, water, fire, thunder, wind, mountain, and lake. These eight are all made of different combinations of yin and yang, which are what came to be called bagua.

Nüwa, also read Nügua, is a mother goddess, culture hero, and/or member of the Three Sovereigns of Chinese mythology. She is a goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven.

legendary Chinese ruler, one of the Five Emperors

thumb|upright|Shennong Yan Emperor () is well known as the first Emperor of Ancient China, who not only invented the farming tools for his people, but also herbs for treating his people's illnesses. Depicted in a mural painting from the Han dynasty.

The legendary ruler of China, one of the five emperors

legendary ruler of ancient China, one of the Five Emperors

Zhuanxu (), also known as Gaoyang (), was a mythological emperor of ancient China.

Shaohao (), also known as Jin Tian (), was a legendary Chinese sovereign, usually identified as a son of the Yellow Emperor. According to some traditions, such as that within the Book of Documents, Shaohao is one of the Five Emperors. His place in the mythical lineage of the Yellow Emperor has been subject to controversy. Members of the 19th–20th century Doubting Antiquity School of historians posited that Shaohao was added to the orthodox succession legend by Liu Xin as part of a politically motivated campaign revising ancient texts .

Gonggong () is a Chinese water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpent. He is destructive and is blamed for various cosmic catastrophes. In all accounts, Gonggong ends up being killed or sent into exile, usually after losing a struggle with another major deity such as the fire god Zhurong.

thumb|260px|Zhurong riding two dragons, depicted in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, 1597 edition

Suiren (, Suìrén, lit. flint person"), also known as Suihuang (, Suìhuáng, lit. "Flint Emperor"), appears in Chinese mythology and some works which draw upon it. Although the Sui in his name is sometimes translated as Flint, Sui in Chinese refers to all firestarters. For example, Liji separates Sui into Musui (, Musui, lit. "wood sui") or fire drill wood and Yangsui (, Yangsui, lit. "Solar Sui"), usually bronze mirrors used to start fire by reflecting the sun).

mythological emperor of ancient China

legendary ruler in prehistoric China, later venerated as a fire god

Chinese legendary monarch

legendary Chinese monarch

legendary Chinese monarch