(), translated as Five Moving Ones, Five Circulations, Five Types of Energy, Five Elements, Five Transformations, 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 terrestrial and celestial relationships, influences, and cycles, that characterise the interactions and relationships within science, medicine, politics, religion and social relationships and education within Chinese culture.
The Five Moving Ones are traditionally associated with the classical planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn as depicted in the etymological section below. In ancient Chinese astronomy and astrology, which spread throughout East Asia, there was a reflection of the seven-day planetary order of Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth.The Chinese encyclopaedia Cihai (辭海), under the entry for "seven luminaries calendar" (七曜曆, qī yào lì), describes the "method of recording days according to the seven luminaries [七曜 qī yào]." China normally observes the following order: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. Seven days make one week, which is repeated in a cycle. This method -- originating in ancient Babylon (or ancient Egypt according to one theory), used by the Romans at the time of the 1st century CE, and later transmitted to other countries -- existed in China in the 4th century AD. It was also transmitted to China by Manichaeans in the 8th century AD from the country of Kang (康) in Central Asia (translation after Bathrobe's Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese, plus Mongolian and Buryat (cjvlang.com)). When in their "heavenly stems" generative cycle as represented in the below cycles section and depicted in the diagram above, they run consecutively clockwise (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). When in their overacting destructive arrangement of Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, natural disasters, calamities, illnesses, and disease will ensue.
The wuxing system was in use before, but 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, religion and traditional medicine, serving as a metaphysics based on cosmic analogy.
Etymology
Wuxing originally referred to the five classical planets (from brightest to dimmest: Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn), which together with the Sun and the Moon, were conceived as creating the five forces of earthly life (including yang and yin). This is why the word is composed of Chinese characters meaning "five" () and "moving" (). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since the Chinese word for planets is translated 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 BCE) also connect the wuxing to the wude (), the Five Virtues and Five Emotions.Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 72. Scholars believe that various predecessors of the concept of wuxing were merged into a single system of many interpretations during the Han dynasty.
Wuxing was first translated into English as "the Five Elements", drawing parallels with the Greek and Indian Vedic static, solid or formative arrangement 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, Five Element Qigong and Japanese meridian therapy.However, this analogy could be misleading as the four elements are concerned with form, substance and quantity. In contrast, the post-heaven arrangement of the wuxing is "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" and growth of trees rather than the physical innate substance wood. 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. 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" or "five transformations".
Cycles In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a promoting or generative ( shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overacting or destructive ( kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson" (see diagram). Each of these cycles can be interpreted and analyzed in either a forward or a reverse direction. In addition to the aforementioned cycles there is also what is considered an "overacting" or excessively generating version of the destructive cycle.
Inter-promoting The generative cycle ( xiāngshēng) is: Wood feeds Fire as fuel Fire produces Earth (ash, lava) Earth bears Metal (geological processes produce minerals) Metal collects, filters and purifies Water (water vapor condenses on metal, for example) Water nourishes Wood (water leads to growth of flowers, plants and other changes in nature)
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.
Weakening The reverse generative 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)
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
Movement Wood Fire Earth Metal WaterHeavenly Stems Jia Yi Bing Ding Wu Ji Geng Xin Ren Gui Year ends with 4, 5 6, 7 8, 9 0, 1 2, 3
Ming nayin In Ziwei divination, nayin () further classifies the Five Elements into 30 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.
OrderGanzhiMingOrderGanzhiMingElement1Wood Rat Sea metal 31Wood Horse Sand metal Metal 2Wood Ox 32Wood Goat 3Fire Tiger Furnace fire 33Fire Monkey Forest fire Fire 4Fire Rabbit 34Fire Rooster 5Earth Dragon Forest wood 35Earth Dog Meadow wood Wood 6Earth Snake 36Earth Pig 7Metal Horse Road earth 37Metal Rat Adobe earth Earth 8Metal Goat 38Metal Ox 9Water Monkey Sword metal 39Water Tiger Foil metal Metal10Water Rooster 40Water Rabbit 11Wood Dog Volcanic fire 41Wood Dragon Lamp fire Fire 12Wood Pig 42Wood Snake 13Fire Rat Creek water 43Fire Horse Sky water Water14Fire Ox 44Fire Goat 15Earth Tiger Fortress earth 45Earth Monkey Stage station earth Earth 16Earth Rabbit 46Earth Rooster 17Metal Dragon Pewter metal 47Metal Dog Jewellery metal Metal 18Metal Snake 48Metal Pig 19Water Horse Willow wood 49Water Rat Mulberry wood Wood20Water Goat 50Water Ox 21Wood Monkey Stream water 51Wood Tiger Rapids water Water22Wood Rooster 52Wood Rabbit 23Fire Dog Roof tiles earth 53Fire Dragon Desert earth Earth 24Fire Pig 54Fire Snake 25Earth Rat Lightning fire 55Earth Horse Sun fire Fire26Earth Ox 56Earth Goat 27Metal Tiger Conifer wood 57Metal Monkey Pomegranate wood Wood28Metal Rabbit 58Metal Rooster 29Water Dragon River water 59Water Dog Ocean water Water30Water Snake 60Water Pig
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, the expansion of which generates vitality and movement; associated with wind. Fire/Summer: a period of fruition and ripening flowering; associated with heat. Earth can be seen as a period of stability and stillness transitioning 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 centralisation, leveling and dampness. Metal/Autumn: a period of moving inward. It is associated with collection, harvesting, transmuting, contracting, loss and dryness. Water/Winter: a period of reclusiveness, stillness, consolidation and coolness.
Cosmology and feng shui
The art of feng shui (Chinese geomancy) is based on wuxing, with the structure of the cosmos mirroring the five phases, as well as bagua (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 Information on the Chinese Five Elements from Northern Shaolin Academy in Microsoft Excel 2003 Format
An interaction or energy flow can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive, depending on the cycle it belongs to. By understanding these energy flows, a feng shui practitioner attempts to rearrange energy to benefit the client.
Movement Metal Wood Water Fire EarthTrigram hanzi Trigram pinyinqiánduìzhènxùnkǎnlígènkūn Trigrams☰☱☳☴☵☲☶☷ I Ching Heaven Lake Thunder Wind Water Fire Mountain Field Planet (Celestial Body) Venus Jupiter Mercury Mars Saturn Elementary Color White Blue (Cyan) Black Red Yellow Intermediary Color Aquamarine Green Purple Orange Grey Day Friday Thursday Wednesday Tuesday Saturday Season Autumn Spring Winter Summer Intermediate Cardinal direction West East North South Center
Dynastic transitions According to the Warring States period political philosopher Zou Yan ( 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 ritual colors (white, blue, black, red, and yellow) that match the element of the new dynasty (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of Wude Zhongshi Shuo(五德終始說) known as the Five Virtues dynastic succession theory that legitimized atheir reign.
Chinese medicine
The interdependence of zangfu networks in the body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the ancient Chinese doctors onto categories of syndromes and patterns called the five phases.