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Five ElementsIn traditional Chinese thought, natural phenomena can be classified into five elements, or phases: wood, fire, earth, metal, water (Chinese: 木 火 土 金 水). These Five Phases (五行 wǔxng) are not materials as the names imply, rather they are metaphors for describing how interactions and relationships between phenomena. (Five phases is another way of translating 五行 - literally, "five go"). The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating (生 Shēng) cycle and an overcoming (克 K) cycle of interactions between the phases. In the generating cycle, wood generates fire; fire generates earth; earth generates metal; metal generates water; water generates wood. In the overcoming cycle, wood overcomes earth; earth overcomes water; water overcomes fire; fire overcomes metal; metal overcomes wood. The doctrine of five phases was employed in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as music, medicine, and military strategy. Correlations among the Five Elements and other categories The Yue Ling (Monthly Commands) and the Huai Nan Zi make the following correlations: Correspondences | | Element | Direction | Color | Musical Note |
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| 1 | Wood | east | blue* | ju 角 (mi) |
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| 2 | Fire | south | red | zhǐ 徵 (sol) |
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| 3 | Earth | center | yellow | gōng 宮 (do) |
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| 4 | Metal | west | white | shāng 商 (re) |
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| 5 | Water | north | black | yǔ 羽 (la) |
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Note: Blue includes green. Some other correspondences are shown below: Correspondences | | Element | Heavenly Creature | Season | Direction | Planet | Tastes | Sense | Viscera | Finger |
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| 1 | Wood | Qīng-lng (青龍)
the Blue Dragon | Spring | east | Jupiter | sour | sight | liver | ring finger |
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| 2 | Fire | Zhū-qu (朱雀)
the Red Phoenix | Summer | south | Mars | bitter | sound | heart | middle finger |
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| 3 | Earth | Hung-lng (黃龍)
the Yellow Dragon | Change of seasons | center | Saturn | sweet | smell | spleen | index finger |
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| 4 | Metal | Bi-hǔ (白虎)
the White Tiger | Autumn | west | Venus | hot | taste | lung | thumb |
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| 5 | Water | Xun-wǔ (玄武)
the Black Tortoise-Serpent | Winter | north | Mercury | salty | touch | kidney | little finger |
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They also correlate to the 8 trigrams of the I Ching. Correspondences | | Element | I Ching | trigrams |
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| 1 | Wood | Wind, Thunder | :|| (☴ 巽 xn) |:: (☳ 震 zhn) |
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| 2 | Fire | Fire | |:| (☲ 離 l) |
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| 3 | Earth | Earth, Mountain | ::: (☷ 坤 kūn) ::| (☶ 艮 gn) |
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| 4 | Metal | Sky, Lake | ||| (☰ 乾 qin) ||: (☱ 兌 du) |
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| 5 | Water | Water | :|: (☵ 坎 kǎn) |
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Note Western parallels and contrasts, revolving instead around only four elements, called the "temperaments" or the four humours in Western physiology, psychology and pre-scientific medicine, from the time of the pre-Classical Greeks until the 18th century Enlightenment, also informed the historical study called alchemy that led to chemistry. See also References - Feng Yu-lan, A History of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 13
- Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, volume 2, pp. 262-23
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