五帝说、三皇说的形成

On the formation of five emperors and three sovereigns in ancient China

三皇五帝从时序说,三皇在前,五帝在后,但从三皇五帝说的形成看,则是先有五帝说,后有三皇说。而在五帝说出现之前,先有战国各种古帝王说,尔后才有五帝说的兴起。而五帝说可分为两个阶段,一是与五行说没有联系的五帝说,二是与五行说相联系的五帝说。在五帝说出现之后,才在西汉末期出现三皇说,到东汉已经有五种不同的三皇说。

Three sovereigns and five emperors are conventionally regarded as a sequential order of time whereby the three sovereigns precede five emperors.However,the writer argues that the five emperors precede three sovereigns in terms of formation,and preceding five emperors are ancient emperors of the warring states.In addition the five emperors are reconstructed as those with five elements and those without five elements in the legend.The three sovereigns come into the legend in the Western Han,much later than the five emperors.By the Eastern Han,there are varied legends of three sovereigns.