Qing Jia

The First Emperors of Ancient China

Suiren, Fuxi and Shennong are regarded as the Three Sage Kings of ancient China who made personal sacrifices to improve the lives of the people. They are known for one or more unique contribution to mankind.

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.

Fuxi taught people to domesticate animals and make nets to catch fish, birds and wild animals, ensuring a continuous supply of food. He also laid down marriage laws and invented a 35 string musical instrument. However most important of all, he create the Eight Trigram or Bagua which became the basis of the I Ching or Books of Changes.

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.

The Five Legendary Rulers, Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Yao and Shun then succeeded the Three Sage Kings.

Huangdi was a great leader. He understands how to select able men and motivate them to help him rule the country and come out with innovations.

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.

Huangdi was succeeded by Zhuanxu. Zhuanxu was not his son but he was chosen over many of Huangdi’s son due to his ability. Among Zhuanxu’s contribution was bring law and order to his people and consolidating the power of 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. 

Yao who succeeded Diku was just as industrious and benevolent as his father. His contributions included further developing the calendar and adjusting the timing of planting resulting in bumper 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 changes to the administration including dividing the country into 12 states. He implement further changes and set up the department of water, land, works, farming, music and rites. In addition he also drafted the five rules of etiquette and other regulations for the dukes and princes to observe.  

After The Five Legendary Kings come Yu the founder of the Xia Dynasty. Yu was best remembered for controlling the floods that created a lot of problem to his subjects. More on Yu and the Xia dynasty in future articles.

愛情的代價- Ai Qing De Dai Jia – The Price Of Love