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{{Short description|Chinese five elements}}{{About|the traditional Chinese philosophical concept|modern chemical elements in the Chinese language|Chemical elements in East Asian languages}}{{Italic title}}(File:Wu Xing.png|thumb|300px|right|Diagram of the interactions between the wuxing. The "generative" cycle is illustrated by grey arrows running clockwise on the outside of the circle, while the "destructive" or "conquering" cycle is represented by red arrows inside the circle.)

factoids

y=ngh-hàhngng.angpoj=Ngó͘-hânNgó͘-hîng|buc=Ngū-hèng}}{{Taoism condensed|Concepts}}{{classic element|expanded=Chinese}}File:VM Mu-Huo-Tu-Jin-Shui zhi Shen 4594.jpg|thumb|Tablet in the Temple of Heaven of Beijing, written in Chinese and Manchu, dedicated to the (Wufang Shangdi|gods of the Five Movements]]. The Manchu word usiha, meaning "star", explains that this tablet is dedicated to the five planets: Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury and the movements which they govern.){{transliteration|zh|Wuxing}} (|p=wǔxíng}}),{{efn|Japanese: {{transliteration|ja|gogyō}} (}});JOURNAL, Hayashi, Makoto, Hayek, Matthias, 2013, Editors' Introduction: Onmyodo in Japanese History, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 10.18874/jjrs.40.1.2013.1-18, 0304-1042, free, 3, Korean: {{transliteration|ko|ohaeng}} (}}); Vietnamese: ngũ hành (五行)}} usually translated as Five Phases or Five Agents,Theobald, Ulrich (2011) "Yin-Yang and Five Agents Theory, Correlative Thinking" in ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art is a fivefold conceptual scheme used in many traditional Chinese fields of study to explain a wide array of phenomena, including cosmic cycles, the interactions between internal organs, the succession of political regimes, and the properties of herbal medicines.The agents are Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth.{{efn|This order of presentation is known as the "Days of the Week" sequence. In the order of "mutual generation" (), they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. In the order of "mutual overcoming" (), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.JOURNAL, Deng Yu, Zhu Shuanli, Xu Peng, Deng Hai, 五行阴阳的特征与新英译, Characteristics and a New English Translation of Wu Xing and Yin-Yang, Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, 2000, 20, 12, 937,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150716115244weblink">weblink 2015-07-16, Deng Yu et al; Fresh Translator of Zang Xiang Fractal five System，Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine; 1999Deng Yu et al，TCM Fractal Sets ，Journal of Mathematical Medicine ，1999，12（3），264-265}} The wuxing system has been in use since it was formulated in the second or first century BCE during the Han dynasty. It appears in many seemingly disparate fields of early Chinese thought, including music, feng shui, alchemy, astrology, martial arts, military strategy, I Ching divination, and traditional medicine, serving as a metaphysics based on cosmic analogy.

Etymology

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic001 - 太極圖.png|thumb|Taijitu diagram featuring the wuxing in the center (from the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China by Chen MengleiChen MengleiWuxing originally referred to the five major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus), which were conceived as creating five forces of earthly life. This is why the word is composed of Chinese characters meaning "five" () and "moving" (). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since the word for planets in Chinese literally translates as "moving stars" ().Dr Zai, J. Taoism and Science: Cosmology, Evolution, Morality, Health and more. Ultravisum, 2015. Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts (before 168 BC) also connect the wuxing to the wude (), the Five Virtues and Five Emotions.Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 72.BOOK, Dechar, Lorie, Five Spirits: Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing, Lantern Books, 2006, 1590560922, New York, 20–360, English, Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept of wuxing were merged into one system with many interpretations during the Han dynasty.WEB, Littlejohn, Ronnie, Wuxing (Wu-hsing),weblink 2023-04-30, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, en-US, Wuxing was first translated into English as "the Five Elements", drawing deliberate parallels with the Western idea of the four elements.Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 73. This translation is still in common use among practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine, such as in the name of Five Element acupuncture.BOOK, Hicks, Angela, Hicks, John, Mole, Peter, Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture, 2010, Elsevier Health Sciences, Second, 978-0-7020-4448-9,weblink 4 August 2023, However, this analogy is misleading. The four elements are concerned with form, substance and quantity, whereas wuxing are "primarily concerned with process, change, and quality".Nathan Sivin (1995), "Science and Medicine in Chinese History", in his Science in Ancient China (Aldershot, England: Variorum), text VI, p. 179. For example, the wuxing element "Wood" is more accurately thought of as the "vital essence" of trees rather than the physical substance wood.AV MEDIA, zh:千古中医之张仲景, Wood and Metal were often replaced with air, Lecture Room, CCTV-10, This led sinologist Nathan Sivin to propose the alternative translation "five phases" in 1987.Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan) p. 73. But "phase" also fails to capture the full meaning of wuxing. In some contexts, the wuxing are indeed associated with physical substances.BOOK, Nappi, Carla, The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China, 2009, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 172, 978-0-674-03529-4,weblink 4 August 2023, Historian of Chinese medicine Manfred Porkert proposed the (somewhat unwieldy) term "Evolutive Phase". Perhaps the most widely accepted translation among modern scholars is "the five agents", proposed by Marc Kalinowski.BOOK, Unschuld, Paul N., Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: Nature, Knowledge, and Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Text, 2003, University of California Press, Berkeley, 84, 978-0-520-23322-5,weblink 4 August 2023,

Cycles

In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a generating or creation ( shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overcoming or destructive ( kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson" (see diagram). Each of the two cycles can be analyzed going forward or reversed. There is also an "overacting" or excessive version of the destructive cycle.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Inter-promoting

The generating cycle ( xiāngshēng) is:

• Wood feeds Fire
• Fire produces Earth (ash, lava)
• Earth bears Metal (geological processes produce minerals)
• Metal collects Water (water vapor condenses on metal, for example)
• Water nourishes Wood (Water flowers, plants and other changes in forest)

Weakening

The reverse generating cycle (/ xiāngxiè) is:

• Wood depletes Water
• Water rusts Metal
• Metal impoverishes Earth (erosion, destructive mining of minerals)
• Earth smothers Fire
• Fire burns Wood (forest fires)

Inter-regulating

The destructive cycle ( xiāngkè) is:

• Wood grasps (or stabilizes) Earth (roots of trees can prevent soil erosion)
• Earth contains (or directs) Water (dams or river banks)
• Water dampens (or regulates) Fire
• Fire melts (or refines or shapes) Metal
• Metal chops (or carves) Wood

Overacting

The excessive destructive cycle ( xiāngchéng) is:

• Wood depletes Earth (depletion of nutrients in soil, over-farming, overcultivation)
• Earth obstructs Water (over-damming)
• Water extinguishes Fire
• Fire melts Metal (affecting its integrity)
• Metal makes Wood rigid to easily snap.

Counteracting

A reverse or deficient destructive cycle ( xiāngwǔ or xiānghào) is:

• Wood dulls Metal
• Metal de-energizes Fire (conducting heat away)
• Fire evaporates Water
• Water muddies (or destabilizes) Earth
• Earth rots Wood (buried wood rots)

Celestial stem

{| class="wikitable"! Movement || Wood || Fire || Earth || Metal || Water!Heavenly Stems!Year ends with| 2, 3

Ming neiyin

In Ziwei divination, neiyin () further classifies the Five Elements into 60 ming (), or life orders, based on the ganzhi. Similar to the astrology zodiac, the ming is used by fortune-tellers to analyse individual personality and destiny.{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"!Order!Ganzhi!Ming!Order!Ganzhi!Ming!Element1Jia Zi rowspan="2"Sand metal rowspan="2"|Metal 2Yi Chou 32Yi Wei 3Bing Yin rowspan="2"Forest fire rowspan="2"|Fire 4Ding Mao 34Ding You 5Wu Chen rowspan="2"Meadow wood rowspan="2"|Wood 6Ji Si 36Ji Hai 7Geng Wu rowspan="2"Adobe earth rowspan="2"|Earth 8Xin Wei 38Xin Chou 9Ren Shen rowspan="2"Precious metal rowspan="2"|Metal10Gui You 40Gui Mao 11Jia Xu rowspan="2"Lamp fire rowspan="2"|Fire 12Yi Hai 42Yi Si 13Bing Zi rowspan="2"Sky water rowspan="2"|Water14Ding Chou 44Ding Wei 15Wu Yin rowspan="2"Highway earth rowspan="2"|Earth 16Ji Mao 46Ji You 17Geng Chen rowspan="2"Jewellery metal rowspan="2"|Metal 18Xin Si 48Xin Hai 19Ren Wu rowspan="2"Mulberry wood rowspan="2"|Wood20Gui Wei 50Gui Chou 21Jia Shen rowspan="2"Rapids water rowspan="2"|Water22Yi You 52Yi Mao 23Bing Xu rowspan="2"Desert earth rowspan="2"|Earth 24Ding Hai 54Ding Si 25Wu Zi rowspan="2"Sun fire rowspan="2"|Fire26Ji Chou 56Ji Wei 27Geng Yin rowspan="2"Pomegranate wood rowspan="2"|Wood28Xin Mao 58Xin You 29Ren Chen rowspan="2"Ocean water rowspan="2"|Water30Gui Si 60Gui Hai

Applications

The wuxing schema is applied to explain phenomena in various fields.

Phases of the Year

The five phases are around 73 days each and are usually used to describe the transformations of nature rather than their formative states.

• Wood/Spring: a period of growth, which generates abundant vitality, movement and wind.
• Fire/Summer: a period of swelling, flowering, expanding with heat.
• Earth can be seen as a transitional period between the other phases or seasons or when relating to transformative seasonal periods it can be seen as late Summer. This period is associated with stability, leveling and dampness.
• Metal/Autumn: a period of harvesting, collecting and dryness.
• Water/Winter: a period of retreat, stillness, contracting and coolness.

Cosmology and feng shui

(File:FiveElementsCycleBalanceImbalance 02 plain.svg|thumb|right|Another illustration of the cycle)The art of feng shui (Chinese geomancy) is based on wuxing, with the structure of the cosmos mirroring the five phases, as well as the eight trigrams. Each phase has a complex network of associations with different aspects of nature (see table): colors, seasons and shapes all interact according to the cycles.Chinese Five Elements Chart {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928105605weblink|date=2007-09-28}} Information on the Chinese Five Elements from Northern Shaolin Academy in Microsoft Excel 2003 FormatAn interaction or energy flow can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive, depending on the cycle to which it belongs. By understanding these energy flows, a feng shui practitioner attempts to rearrange energy to benefit the client.{| class="wikitable"! Movement || Metal || Metal || Fire || Wood || Wood || Water || Earth || Earth!Trigram hanzi!Trigram pinyin|kūn! Trigrams|☷! I Ching| Field! Planet (Celestial Body)Neptune >Venus >Mars >Jupiter >Pluto >Mercury (planet)>Mercury Uranus Saturn ! Color| Yellow! Day| Saturday! Season| Intermediate! Cardinal direction| Center

Dynastic transitions

According to the Warring States period political philosopher Zou Yan ({{Circa|305–240}} BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified virtue (), which indicates the foreordained destiny () of a dynasty; hence the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that the Mandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual color (yellow, blue, white, red, and black) that matches the element of the new dynasty (Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of the Five Elements to legitimize their reign.

Chinese medicine

(File:FiveElementsDiurnalCycle.jpg|thumb|Five Elements – diurnal cycle{{Citation needed|date=May 2023|reason=What context is this used in in Chinese wuxing beliefs?}})The interdependence of zangfu networks in the body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the Chinese doctors onto the five phases.WEB, Traditional Chinese Medicine: In Depth,weblink National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 20 March 2017, live,weblink 4 April 2017, WEB, Hafner, Christopher, The TCM Organ Systems (Zang Fu),weblink University of Minnesota, 5 April 2017, live,weblink 6 April 2017, In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Chinese medical scientists and physicians use the Five Elements theory to classify the human body's endogenous influences on organs, physiological activities, pathological reactions, and environmental or exogenous influences. This diagnostic capacity is extensively used in traditional five phase acupuncture today, as opposed to the modern eight principles based Traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore, in combination the two systems are the study of postnatal and prenatal influencing on genetics, psychology and sociology.WEB,weblink Five Elements Theory (Wu Xing), 2019-10-27, Chinese Herbs Info, en-US, 2019-12-17, 2019-12-17,weblink dead, WEB, 2011-02-02, five element acupuncture,weblink 2020-12-27, www.cancer.gov, en-US, {| class="wikitable"! Movement || Wood || Fire || Earth || Metal || Water! PlanetJupiter >Mars >Saturn >Venus >Mercury (planet)>Mercury! Mental Qualityidealism), spontaneity, curiosity Passion (emotion), intensity >agreeableness), honesty Intuition (knowledge), rationality, mind >erudition), resourcefulness, wit! Emotionanger, motivation >frenzy, joy >anxiety, planning >grief, compassion >| fear, caution ! VirtueRen (philosophy)>Benevolence Propriety Fidelity Righteousness Wisdom ! Zang (yin organs)Liver (Chinese medicine)>liver Heart (Chinese medicine)/Pericardium (Chinese medicine)>pericardium Spleen (Chinese medicine)/pancreas >Lung (Chinese medicine)>lung kidney! Fu (yang organs)Gall bladder (Chinese medicine)>gall bladder Small intestine (Chinese medicine)/San Jiao >Stomach (Chinese medicine)>stomach Large intestine (Chinese medicine) >Urinary bladder (Chinese medicine)>urinary bladder! Sensory OrganHuman eye>eyes tongue Human mouth >Human nose>nose ears! Body Parttendons >vessels >muscles >Human skin>skin bones! Body Fluidtears >sweat >saliva >mucus >| urine! Fingerring finger >middle finger >thumb >index finger >| pinky finger! SenseVisual perception>sight taste touch Olfaction >Hearing (sense)>hearing! TasteJOURNAL, Eberhard, Wolfram, December 1965, Chinese Regional Stereotypes, Asian Survey, University of California Press, 5, 12, 596–608, 2642652, 10.2307/2642652, sour >Bitter (taste)>bitter sweet pungent, umami salty! SmellRancidification>rancid (wikt:scorchedfragrant >Decomposition>rotten putrid! Lifesenior age >old age, Fertilisation>conception! CoveringScale (anatomy)>scaly Bird >naked human >furred >Exoskeleton>shelled! Hour| 21–3! Year| Winter Solstice! 360°| 315–45°

Music

The Huainanzi and the Yueling chapter () of the Book of Rites make the following correlations:{| class="wikitable"! Movement || Wood || Fire || Earth || Metal || Water!ColorQing (color)>Qing (green and blue) Red Yellow White Black! Arctic Directioneast >south >west >| north! Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch! Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch pinyinjué>zhǐ>gōng>shāng>|yǔ!solfege| la or A

• Qing is a Chinese color word used for both green and blue. Modern Mandarin has separate words for each, but like many other languages, older forms of Chinese did not distinguish between green and blue.WEB, Mair, Victor, Grue and bleen: the blue-green distinction and its implications,weblink Language Log, 4 August 2023, 4 October 2019,
• In most modern music, various five note or seven note scales (e.g., the major scale) are defined by selecting five or seven frequencies from the set of twelve semi-tones in the Equal tempered tuning. The Chinese shi'er lü system of tuning is closest to the ancient Greek tuning of Pythagoras.Joseph C.Y. Chen (1996). Early Chinese Work in Natural Science: A Re-examination of the Physics of Motion, Acoustics, Astronomy and Scientific Thoughts, pp.96-97. {{ISBN|962-209-385-X}}.

Martial arts

Tai chi uses the five elements to designate different directions, positions or footwork patterns: forward, backward, left, right and centre, or three steps forward (attack) and two steps back (retreat).JOURNAL, Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China, Chen, Yuan, Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, 2014, 44, 1, 325–364, 10.1353/sys.2014.0000, 147099574,weblink The Five Steps ():

• Jinbu () – forward step
• Tuibu () – backward step
• Zuogu () – left step
• Youpan () – right step
• Zhongding () – central position, balance, equilibrium

The martial art of xingyiquan uses the five elements metaphorically to represent five different states of combat.{| class="wikitable"! Movement! Fist! Chinese! Pinyin! Description| Metal| Splitting| Water| Drilling| Wood| Crushing| Fire| Pounding| Earth| CrossingWuxing heqidao, Gogyo Aikido (五行合气道) is a life art with roots in Confucian, Taoists and Buddhist theory. It centers around applied peace and health studies rather than defence or physical action. It emphasizes the unification of mind, body and environment using the physiological theory of yin, yang and five-element Traditional Chinese medicine. Its movements, exercises, and teachings cultivate, direct, and harmonise the qi.

Gogyo

The Japanese term is gogyo (Japanese:五行, romanized: gogyō). During the 5th and 6th centuries (Kofun period),JOURNAL, Watanabe, Kenji, Matsuura, Keiko, Gao, Pengfei, Hottenbacher, Lydia, Tokunaga, Hideaki, Nishimura, Ko, Imazu, Yoshihiro, Reissenweber, Heidrun, Witt, Claudia M., 2011, Traditional Japanese Kampo Medicine: Clinical Research between Modernity and Traditional Medicine—The State of Research and Methodological Suggestions for the Future, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011, 513842, 10.1093/ecam/neq067, 1741-427X, 3114407, 21687585, Japan adopted various philosophical disciplines such as Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism through monks and physicians from China. In particular, wuxing was adapted into gogyo. These theories have been extensively practiced in Japanese acupuncture and traditional Kampo medicine.BOOK, Baracco, Luciano,weblink National Integration and Contested Autonomy: The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, 2011-01-01, Algora Publishing, 978-0-87586-823-3, WEB,weblink 《赵城金藏》研究, Chinese, {{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

See also

• Acupuncture
• Classical element
• Color in Chinese culture
• Flying Star Feng Shui
• Humorism
• Qi
• Wuxing painting
• Zangfu
• Yin and yang

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• Feng Youlan (Yu-lan Fung), A History of Chinese Philosophy, volume 2, p. 13
• Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, volume 2, pp. 262–23.
• BOOK, Maciocia, G., 2005, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 2nd, Elsevier Ltd., London,
• JOURNAL, Chen, Yuan, 2014, Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China, Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, 44, 325–364, 10.1353/sys.2014.0000, 147099574,

External links

{{Commons category|Wu Xing (Chinese philosophy)|Wu Xing}}

• Wuxing (Wu-hsing). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, {{ISSN|2161-0002}}.

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