The Five Emperors|china guides

The Five Emperors were legendary, morally perfect sage-kings. According to the Records of the Grand Historian they were:

The Yellow Emperor
Zhuanxu
Emperor Ku
Emperor Yao
Emperor Shun

Yao and Shun are also known as the Two Emperors, and, along with Yu the Great , founder of the Xia dynasty, were considered to be model rulers and moral exemplars by Confucians in later Chinese history. The Shangshu Xu and Diwang shiji include Shaohao instead of the Yellow Emperor.

The Song of Chu identifies the Five Emperors as directional gods:

Shaohao (east)
Zhuanxu (north)
Yellow Emperor (center)
Shennong (west)
Fuxi (south)

The Book of Rites equates the Five Emperors with the Five Lineages , which comprise:

Youchao-shi
Suiren-shi
Fuxi
Nüwa
Shennong

In one sense of the word, the first historical Emperor of China was Qin Shi Huang , who coined a new term for "Emperor" (huangdi ) by combining the titles of "sovereign" (huang ) and "god-king" (di ).