First of all, China's three ancestors were Yan Di, Huangdi and Chiyou about 5,000 years ago. 1992, the historian Ren Changhua first put forward the "three-ancestor culture", and for the first time listed Chiyou as the cultural ancestor of the Chinese nation, along with Huangdi and Yan Di, which broke the traditional saying that the winner is king and the loser is enemy, and so did the establishment of the Chinese nation.

They are the military leaders of tribal alliances in patriarchal society, belonging to the late Neolithic period, and Chiyou began to make bronze. The matriarchal society was mainly in the Paleolithic Age.

Matriarchal clans appeared in the late Paleolithic period, but due to the extensive use of stone tools at that time, the productivity was very low, and clan members worked together and enjoyed the fruits of their labor. With the further development of social productive forces and men gradually occupying the dominant position in production, matriarchal clan society gradually transits to paternal clan society.

By the end of the Neolithic Age (about 5,000 years ago), social productive forces had increased again, and there was a surplus of labor products. Patriarchy naturally replaced matriarchal system, and the seeds of social polarization and inequality began to appear, and the ties between clans became closer and closer, forming a larger tribe and even a tribal alliance. The Neolithic cultural relics such as Dawenkou culture, Longshan culture and Liangzhu culture all belong to the representatives of patriarchal society and culture. On the basis of clan society, Chinese civilization gradually entered the tribal period, that is, the legendary period of three emperors and five emperors. The Yellow Emperor, the head of the Five Emperors, joined forces with another tribal leader, Yan Di, to form the Yanhuang Tribal Alliance, and Yan Di was honored as the ancestor of China by later generations. The historical legends of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, to a certain extent, reflect the objective trend of mutual integration and mutual recognition between ancient clans and tribes, from dispersion to integration.