Chinatown Online version:
Huang Di lived in a magnificent palace in the Kunlun Mountains in the west, with a heavenly door keeper who had the face of a man, the body of a tiger and nine tails. The Kunlun Mountains were full of rare birds and animals and exotic flowers and plants, and Huang Di had a pet bird that helped take care of his clothes and personal effects.To Huang Di was attributed the invention of the cart, the boat and the south-pointing chariot- a chariot with a gear mechanism that enabled a pointer to always indicate south no matter which way the cart turned. Huang Di is said to have taken one with him in battle. He is credited with the laws of astronomy and drawing up the first calendar used by the Chinese people. His supposed conversations on diagnosis and treatment with the physician Qi Bo are contained in China's first medical book, Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine).
According to one tradition, Huang-di spontaneously came into being as a result of the fusion of energies that marked the beginning of the world. He created man by placing earthen statues at the cardinal points of the world, leaving them exposed to the breath of the world's beginning for three hundred years. When they were totally pervaded by the energy of that breath, the statues were able to speak and move. In this way the various races of mankind came into being.
Mysteries of the Yellow Emperor (Paul Stonehill of the China Paranormal Research Center, Tarzana CA --a pretty speculative version)
The "Yellow Emperor" was a rather interesting entity. I intentionally avoid calling him a human being, not because I seek to offend the Chinese people, but because the information I had collected about Huang-ti (albeit scarce) convinces me otherwise...
Qin Shi Huang Di is somewhat less mythical: Robert Wordsworth summary
Sima Qian, a famous Chinese historian, described Shi Huang Di as a "man with a prominent nose with large eyes, with the chest of a bird of prey, with the voice of a jackal; a man of kindness; with the heart of a tiger or wolf. He finds it very easy to act humble toward people: as soon as he obtains what he wants, he finds it just as easy to devour them"