Home (/) Chinese Culture (/travelguide/culture/) Chinese Zodiac (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/) China's Five Elements Philosophy

China's Five Elements Philosophy — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal,

and Water

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Five Elements Theory is a Chinese philosophy used to describe interactions and relationships between things. The
five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal, and water — are believed to be the fundamental elements of everything in
the universe between which interactions occur.

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Chinese: 五⾏ Wǔ Xing /woo sshing/ ‘Five Actions’
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The History of Five Elements Theory
Five Elements Theory first appeared during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC). It became widespread:
mostly used in Chinese medicine, philosophy, fengshui, fortune-telling, and martial arts.

Associations of the Five Elements

Each element has its own characteristics and associations with different aspect of nature, such as direction,
season, color, shape, and so on. See the tables below.

Fengshui Associations

Characteristic Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Direction East South Center West North

Season Spring Summer change of seasons (last month of each season) Autumn Winter

Climate Windy Hot Damp Dry Cold

Color Green Red Yellow White Black

Shape Rectangular Angular Square Round Undulating

Astrology Associations

Characteristic Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Planets Venus Jupiter Mercury Mars Saturn

Heavenly
Creatures
Azure Dragon （⻘⻰） Vermilion
Bird ( 朱雀 )
Yellow Dragon
⻩⻰
( )
White Tiger ( ⽩⻁) Black Tortoise ( ⽞武)

Heavenly
3rd (Bing
甲), 2nd (Yi ⼄) 丙), 4th 5th (Wu 戊), 6th 庚), 8th (Xin ⾟) 壬), 10th (Gui 癸)
Stems
1st (Jia
(Ding丁)
⼰
(Ji )
7th (Geng 9th (Ren

Fidelity/
Virtue Benevolence Propriety Righteousness Wisdom
Honesty

Creativity, luxuriance, Nurturing,

Enthusiasm Ambition, determination, Aptitude, brightness, agile
Represents blooming, and stability, and
and passion progress, and persistence mind, and mental strength
flourishing security

Chinese Medicine Associations

Characteristic Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Taste Sour Bitter Sweet Spicy Salty

Sensory Organs Eyes Tongue Mouth Nose Ear

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Interactions Between the Five Elements
Five Element Theory asserts that the world changes according to the five elements' generating or overcoming
relationships. Generating and overcoming are the complementary processes — the yin and yang — of Five Element
Theory.

Generating processes promote development, while overcoming processes control development. By promoting and
restraining, systems are harmonized and balance is maintained.

Generating Interactions
The generating interactions of the five elements are like the conception, gestation, birth, and nurture relationship
between a mother and a baby. Such element pairs are deeply attached, and together imply success and luck.

The five generating interactions are fueling, forming, containing, carrying, and feeding:

Wood fuels fire.

Fire forms earth (volcanoes, ash, etc.).

Earth contains metal.

Metal carries water (buckets, pipes, etc.).

Water feeds wood (trees, plants, etc.).

Overcoming Interactions
The overcoming interactions of the five elements are like the acts of hostility between two sides in a war.

The five overcoming interactions are melting, penetrating, separating, absorbing, and quenching:

Fire melts metal

Metal penetrates wood (chopping, sawing, drilling, nailing, screwing).

Wood separates earth (tree roots breaking up soil/rock).

Earth absorbs water.

Water quenches fire.

Five Elements Theory and the Chinese Zodiac

Everybody belongs to one of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs and a 12-year cycle according to the year in which they
were born. One of the five elements is associated with each of the Chinese zodiac signs and 12-year cycles.

Chinese astrology asserts that personality and luck are determined by both zodiac sign (element) and 12-year
cycle element, while life force (or qi) is determined by birth date and time. Use the tool on the left to find your
Chinese zodiac sign and element.
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The Fixed Elements of Each Chinese Zodiac Sign
In Chinese astrology, each of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs is associated with one of the five elements, which is
known as the fixed element of the sign: 

Find Your Chinese Zodiac Sign

Choose your date of birth and find out about your Chinese zodiac sign.

Dec 19 1981

Fixed Element Chinese Zodiac Sign

Wood Tiger, Rabbit

Fire Snake, Horse

Earth Ox, Dragon, Goat, Dog

Metal Monkey, Rooster

Water Pig, Rat

The allocation is because elements and signs are associated with months of the traditional Chinese solar calendar.
Each element has a season, except Earth, which marks seasonal change, and is associate with the end month of
each season.

Five Elements Analysis for Zodiac

Five Elements Analysis for Rat (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-
rat.htm)
Five Elements Analysis for Ox (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-
ox.htm)
Five Elements Analysis for Tiger (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-
tiger.htm)
Five Elements Analysis for Rabbit (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-
rabbit.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Dragon (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

dragon.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Snake (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

snake.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Horse (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

horse.htm)
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 Five Elements Analysis for Goat (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-
goat.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Monkey (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

monkey.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Rooster (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

rooster.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Dog (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

dog.htm)

Five Elements Analysis for Pig (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/five-lements-character-destiny-analysis-

pig.htm)

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

Feb 4– Mar 6– Apr 5– May 5– Jun 5– Jul 6– Aug 7– Sep 8– Oct 8– Nov 7– Dec 7– Jan 6–

Tiger Rabbit Dragon Snake Horse Goat Monkey Rooster Dog Pig Rat Ox

Wood Wood Earth Fire Fire Earth Metal Metal Earth Water Water Earth

The 12-Year Cycles of the Five Elements

Each zodiac sign also has an element according to the 12-year cycle of the birth year. Each 12-year cycle starts
with a year of the Rat:

Element 12-Year Cycle 12-Year Cycle

Wood 1924–35 1984–95

Fire 1936–47 1996–2007

Earth 1948–59 2008–19

Metal 1960–71 2020–31

Water 1972–83 2032–43

So 2018 is an Earth year by element cycle and by sign (2018 is a Dog year, and the Dog is also associated with the
Earth element).

The five elements combined with the 12 zodiac signs produce a sixty-year cycle: e.g. an Earth Dog recurs once
every 60 years.

A person's characteristics are said to be determined both by the fixed element of their zodiac sign and the element
of the 12-year cycle they were born in. E.g., a Metal Dog (born in 1970) has a personality with aspects associate
with both Metal (12-year-cycle element) and Earth (fixed element).

How to
47Make Good Luck Using Five Elements Theory
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Five Elements Theory is the most important part of Fengshui Theory. According to ancient Chinese philosophy,
good fengshui will bring good luck. The qi energy of every direction is said to be ruled by one of the five elements.
So aligning one's life with the qi should bring good luck and smooth all obstacles.

First you should find the fixed element (lucky element) of your sign, and then find the direction of your element's
energy from the Fengshui Associations table above. Then make use of both the energy direction and the color of
your lucky element to enhance your luck.

Example Using the Zodiac Tiger

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Your sign is the Tiger, so your lucky element is Wood. Wood energy is in the east, so facing east can bring you
good luck. It can enhance your wealth, health and longevity. The color associated with the Wood element is green,
so you can decorate the east of your house green, or put a green plant in the east, to bring yourself good luck.

According to the generating cycle of the five elements, Water generates Wood, so you can also add some Water
element in the east to enhance your good luck. For example, you could put a fish tank filled with water in the east
of your house.

However you should avoid putting the Metal element in the east, according to the overcoming cycle of the five
elements. Likewise avoid putting the Fire element in the east, as it will consume the energy of Wood.

Related Articles
The Chinese Zodiac (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/)
10 Simple Facts for Discovering the Chinese Zodiac (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/facts.htm)

The Differences Between the Chinese Zodiac and Western Astrology (/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/chinese-vs-
western-astrology.htm)

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