possibly tribal leaders before the historiographers got working on them
usually taken to be the Yellow Emperor 黃帝|黄帝[Huáng dì] and four of his sons Zhuan Xu 顓頊|颛顼[Zhuān Xū], Di Ku 帝嚳|帝喾[Dì Kù], Tang Yao 唐堯|唐尧[Táng Yáo], Yu Shun 虞舜[Yú Shùn]
1 lit. count by fives and tens (idiom); to narrate systematically and in full detail
三五成群
sān wǔ chéng qún
1 in groups of three or four (idiom)
三令五申
sān lìng wǔ shēn
1 to order again and again (idiom)
三番五次
sān fān wǔ cì
1 over and over again (idiom)
三纲五常
sān gāng wǔ cháng
1 three principles and five virtues (idiom)
2 the three rules (ruler guides subject, father guides son and husband guides wife) and five constant virtues of Confucianism (benevolence 仁, righteousness 義|义, propriety 禮|礼, wisdom 智 and fidelity 信)
五十步笑百步
wǔ shí bù xiào bǎi bù
1 the one who has retreated 50 steps laughs at the one who has retreated 100 steps (idiom)
2 the pot calls the kettle black
五味俱全
wǔ wèi jù quán
1 a complete gamut of all five flavors (idiom); every flavor under the sun
五味杂陈
wǔ wèi zá chén
1 with complex feelings (idiom)
五彩缤纷
wǔ cǎi bīn fēn
1 all the colors in profusion (idiom); a garish display
五百年前是一家
wǔ bǎi nián qián shì yī jiā
1 five hundred years ago we were the same family (idiom) (said of persons with the same surname)
五色缤纷
wǔ sè bīn fēn
1 all the colors in profusion (idiom); a garish display
五体投地
wǔ tǐ tóu dì
1 to prostrate oneself in admiration (idiom); to adulate sb
五鬼闹判
wǔ guǐ nào pàn
1 Five ghosts mock the judge, or Five ghosts resist judgment (title of folk opera, idiom); important personage mobbed by a crowd of ne'er-do-wells
伸手不见五指
shēn shǒu bù jiàn wǔ zhǐ
1 pitch-dark (idiom)
吃饭皇帝大
chī fàn huáng dì dà
1 eating comes first, then comes everything else (idiom) (Tw)
四分五裂
sì fēn wǔ liè
1 all split up and in pieces (idiom); disunity (in an organization)
2 complete lack of unity
3 to disintegrate
4 falling apart
5 to be at sixes and sevens
四体不勤，五谷不分
sì tǐ bù qín , wǔ gǔ bù fēn
1 never move your four limbs, can't distinguish the five crops (idiom); living as a parasite
天高皇帝远
tiān gāo huáng dì yuǎn
1 lit. the sky is high and the emperor is far away (idiom)
2 fig. remote places are beyond the reach of the central government