In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Five Elements (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng): wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (木, 火, 土, 金, 水; mù, huǒ, tǔ, jīn, shǔi). These elements were used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. Five phases is another way of translating wǔxíng — literally, "five goings". Traditional Taijiquan schools relate them to footwork and refer to them as five "steps". Yin/Yang symbol and ba gua paved in a clearing outside of Nanning city, Guangxi province. ... Pinyin (拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin. ... In Chinese alchemy, wood was one of the five elements. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Earth is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. ... In Chinese alchemy, Metal is one of the Five Elements. ... Water is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. ... Tai Chi Chuan or Taijiquan (from Chinese 太极拳 Tàijíquán, literally supreme ultimate fist), commonly known as Tai Chi or Taiji, is a nei chia (internal) Chinese martial art which is known for the claims of health and longevity benefits made by its practitioners and in some recent...

The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming (克, kè) 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 philosophy, including seemingly disparate fields such as music, medicine, and military strategy. File links The following pages link to this file: Five Elements Categories: User-created public domain images ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Wikicities has a wiki about Music: Music MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia Science of Music... Medicine on the Web NLM (National Library of Medicine, contains resources for patients and healthcare professionals) Virtual Hospital (digital health sciences library by the University of Iowa) Online Medical Dictionary Collection of links to free medical resources Categories: Medicine | Health ... Military strategy in the Waterloo campaign Military strategy is a collective name for planning the conduct of warfare. ...

Correlations between the five elements and other categories

The Yuèlìng chapter (月令篇) of the Lǐjì (禮記) and the Huáinánzǐ (淮南子) make the following correlations:

(see also pentatonic scale) The term element can refer to: Chemical element — material that consists of atoms with the same number of protons in the nucleus (see also Periodic table). ... A compass rose showing the cardinal directions Cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four principal directions or points of the compass in plane. ... For alternative meanings, see color (disambiguation). ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is an organic material found as the primary content of the stems of woody plants, especially trees, but also shrubs. ... A compass rose with east highlighted East is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Look up Green on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Green is a color seen commonly in nature. ... A large bonfire Fire is a form of combustion. ... A compass rose with South highlighted South is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Red is a color at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ... For the heavy metal band see Soil (band) Soil is unconsolidated rock particle that lies on the surface of the earth, intermingled, perhaps, with organic matter from plant decay. ... Look up Center on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Center (American English) or centre (Commonwealth English) has a number of meanings. ... Yellow is a color with a wavelength 565-590 nanometers. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) in a cloud of electrons. ... A compass rose with west highlighted This article refers to the cardinal direction; for other uses see West (disambiguation). ... White is a color (more accurately it contains all the colors of the visible spectrum and is sometimes described as an achromatic color—black is the absence of color) that has high brightness but zero hue. ... Water (from the Old English word wæter; c. ... Compass rose with north highlighted and at top North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the primary direction: north is used (explicitly or implicitly) to define all other directions; the (visual) top edges of maps usually correspond to the... Black is a color with several subtle differences in meaning. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ...

(note: The Chinese word 青includes the range in the spectrum from green to blue, with shades down to black.)

Some other correspondences are shown below:

The elements have also been correlated to the eight trigrams of the I Ching: The term element can refer to: Chemical element — material that consists of atoms with the same number of protons in the nucleus (see also Periodic table). ... Chinese constellations are different from the western constellations, due to the independent development of ancient Chinese astronomy. ... A season is one of the major divisions of the year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in weather. ... A compass rose showing the cardinal directions Cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four principal directions or points of the compass in plane. ... A planet in common parlance is a large object in orbit around a star that is not a star itself. ... Taste is one of the most common and fundamental of the senses of animals. ... Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... In anatomy, the viscera are the internal organs of an animal, in particular the internal organs of the head, thorax and abdomen. ... Fingers of the human left hand The finger is any of the digits of the hand in humans and other species such as the great apes. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is an organic material found as the primary content of the stems of woody plants, especially trees, but also shrubs. ... Spring is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. ... A compass rose with east highlighted East is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Genitive Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Human taste sensory organs, called taste buds or gustatory calyculi, and concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue, appear to be receptive to relatively few chemical species as tastes. ... Visual perception is one of the senses, consisting of the ability to detect light and interpret (see) it as the perception known as sight or naked eye vision. ... The liver is an organ in vertebrates, including humans. ... The ring finger on this hand is wearing a ring. ... A large bonfire Fire is a form of combustion. ... Summer is a season, defined by convention in meteorology as the whole months of June, July and August in the Northern hemisphere and the whole months of December, January and February in the Southern hemisphere. ... A compass rose with South highlighted South is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Mars, with polar ice caps visible. ... Bitter can refer to: Bitter, one of the five basic tastes; Bitter, a kind of ale particularly popular in Britain or Bitters, a herbal preparation now used mostly in cocktails. ... A schematic representation of hearing. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The heart (Latin cor) is a hollow, muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. ... This article is about the vulgar gesture. ... For the heavy metal band see Soil (band) Soil is unconsolidated rock particle that lies on the surface of the earth, intermingled, perhaps, with organic matter from plant decay. ... Look up Center on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Center (American English) or centre (Commonwealth English) has a number of meanings. ... Genitive Saturnian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... Look up Sweet on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Sweet may refer to: the basic taste sensation of sweetness. ... The term smell may refer to one of the following articles: Olfaction - The sense of smell, that is, the ability to perceive odors Odor - the object being perceived by the sense of olfaction See also Wiktionary:Smell This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... The spleen is a ductless, vertebrate gland that is not necessary for life but is closely associated with the circulatory system, where it functions in the destruction of old red blood cells and removal of other debris from the bloodstream, and also in holding a reservoir of blood. ... The Index finger The index finger or forefinger is the second digit of a human hand, located between the thumb and the middle finger. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) in a cloud of electrons. ... Autumn (often referred to as Fall in North America) is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition between summer and winter. ... A compass rose with west highlighted This article refers to the cardinal direction; for other uses see West (disambiguation). ... Genitive Venusian or Venetian (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... Look up HOT in Wiktionary, the free dictionary HOT is an abbreviation of: high-occupancy toll lane Hybrid Orientation Technique HOT (Israeli company) (Israeli cable company). ... Taste is one of the most common and fundamental of the senses of animals. ... The lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. ... The thumbs up gesture is a sign of approval in many cultures. ... Water (from the Old English word wæter; c. ... In many parts of the world, winter is associated with snow. ... Compass rose with north highlighted and at top North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the primary direction: north is used (explicitly or implicitly) to define all other directions; the (visual) top edges of maps usually correspond to the... For additional meanings, see Mercury (disambiguation). ... Human taste sensory organs, called taste buds or gustatory calyculi, and concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue, appear to be receptive to relatively few chemical species as tastes. ... Touching is having or getting a zero distance; in geometry it refers especially to a tangent line or curve (cf. ... Kidneys viewed from behind with spine removed The kidneys are bean-shaped excretory organs in vertebrates. ... Little finger The little finger is the most ulnar and usually smallest finger of the human hand, opposite the thumb, next to the ring finger. ... The bagua (Chinese: 八卦; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: pa kua; literally eight trigrams, Korean 한국어: 팔괘) is a fundamental philosophical concept in ancient China. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ...

See also

• Chinese music
• five elements (Japanese)
• four elements
• Hsing Yi
• pushing hands
• qi
• qigong
• tao
• Zang Fu theory

Music of China appears to date back to the dawn of Chinese civilization, and documents and artifacts provide evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC _ 256 BC). ... The five elements (五大, Godai, lit. ... Several ancient Classical Element ideas exist. ... Xingyiquan (Chinese: 形意拳; pinyin: Over the centuries, many different variations of the art have evolved, so significant portions of the following article may not apply to every extant style of Xingyiquan Xingyiquan (or Xingyi) claims to specialize in deceptively soft, linear, low attacks and quick yet solid footwork appropriate for the... Pushing hands, (推手, Wade-Giles tui shou, pinyin tūi shǒu), is a name for two-person training routines practiced in soft style Chinese martial arts such as Pa Kua Chang (Baguazhang), Hsing-i Chuan (Xingyiquan), Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan) and I Chuan (Yiquan). ... QI, standing for Quite Interesting, is a comedy panel game shown on BBC Two and BBC Four and hosted by Stephen Fry. ... Qigong (Simplified Chinese: 气功; Traditional Chinese: 氣功; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: chi4 kung1) is an increasingly popular aspect of Chinese medicine involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body. ... TAO is an acronym or abbreviation for: Tactics Arena Online Technical account owner The ACE ORB Track at Once Triacetyloleandomycin Additionally, Tao has several meanings: The Chinese character 道 (Pinyin: dào; Wade-Giles: tao⁴), which may refer to: a philosophical concept, see Tao and Taoism. ... Zang-Fu theory is a concept within traditional Chinese medicine, part of the TCM model of the body. ...

References

• 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

Feng Youlan (Simplified Chinese: 冯友兰; Traditional Chinese: 馮友蘭; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Feng Yu-lan; also: Fung Yu-Lan; 1895–1990) was a Chinese philosopher who was important for reintroducing the study of Chinese philosophy. ... Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900 – March 24, 1995) was a British biochemist and pre-eminent authority on the history of Chinese science. ...

External links

• Chinese Zodiac Chart Find your Chinese Zodiac sign based on your date of birth.