中國古代對於上帝的崇拜可說是源遠流長，早在殷商時期的甲骨文中，就保留許多相關的貞卜資料。然而，到了秦、漢之時，祭祀上帝的宗教活動，乃由原先唯一的上帝，分化成金、木、水、火、土等「五帝」，成為中國歷朝祭天的宗教活動中，十分特殊的祀典。此一分化的背景，主要受到東周以來五行學說的影響，而五行學說則是脫胎自殷商時期的時空觀念，以及星占、卜筮等數術之學。並且，在「五行」醞釀的過程中，亦不斷自古代宗教、神話的傳說裡汲取養分，以充實學說本身的系統，終於形成「五帝畤」的典制。

In ancient Chinese, we worshiped the “Shangdi”. The data of Chinese Fortune-telling about “Shangdi” have been preserved in the Oracle Bones Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty. However, in Qin-Han Dynasty, the only emperor “Shangdi” split into the Five Emperors. The worship of the Five Emperors became the most particular institution in the religious service of the sacrifice to heaven in the history. The background of the split was influenced by the theory of the Five Elements after the Eastern Chou Dynasty, and the theory of the Five Elements came from the traditional Chinese Occult Science. Besides, the Five Elements continued to increase the original legends of the religion and myth to result the “Sacrifice of the Five Emperors”.