Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)

Short description: Chinese five elements

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. Wuxing

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Classical elements

Stoicheion (στοιχεῖον)

Greek

|  |  Air |

|
|

Water |  Aether |  Fire
|  Earth |

Tattva / Panchikarana / Mahābhūta

Hinduism / Jainism / Buddhism

|  |  Vayu |

|
|

Ap |  Akasha |  Agni
|  Prithvi |

Wuxing (五行)

Chinese

|  | Wood (木) |

|
|

Water (水) |  | Fire (火)
| Metal (金) | Earth (土)

|

Godai (五大)

Japanese

|  |  Air (風) |

|
|

Water (水) |  Void (空) |  Fire (火)
|  Earth (地) |

Bön

Tibetan

|  |  Air |

|
|

Water |  Aether |  Fire
|  Earth |

Alchemy

Medieval

|  |  Air |

|
|

Water |  Aether |  Fire
|  Earth
Sulphur |  Mercury |  Salt

* v
* t
* e

Tablet in the Temple of Heaven of Beijing, written in Chinese and Manchu, dedicated to the 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.

Wuxing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng),[lower-alpha 1] usually translated as Five Phases or Five Agents,[2] 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.[lower-alpha 2] 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.

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 Cycles
* 2.1 Inter-promoting
* 2.2 Weakening
* 2.3 Inter-regulating
* 2.4 Overacting
* 2.5 Counteracting
* 3 Celestial stem
* 3.1 Ming neiyin
* 4 Applications
* 4.1 Phases of the Year
* 4.2 Cosmology and feng shui
* 4.3 Dynastic transitions
* 4.4 Chinese medicine
* 4.5 Music
* 4.6 Martial arts
* 5 Gogyo
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 Further reading
* 10 External links

## Etymology

Taijitu diagram featuring the wuxing in the center (from the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China by Chen Menglei)

Wuxing 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" (五; wǔ) and "moving" (行; xíng). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since the word for planets in Chinese literally translates as "moving stars" (行星; xíngxīng).[6] Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts (before 168 BC) also connect the wuxing to the wude (五德; wǔdé), the Five Virtues and Five Emotions.[7][8] Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept of wuxing were merged into one system with many interpretations during the Han dynasty.[9]

Wuxing was first translated into English as "the Five Elements", drawing deliberate parallels with the Western idea of the four elements.[10][8] This translation is still in common use among practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine, such as in the name of Five Element acupuncture.[11] 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".[12] For example, the wuxing element "Wood" is more accurately thought of as the "vital essence" of trees rather than the physical substance wood.[13] This led sinologist Nathan Sivin to propose the alternative translation "five phases" in 1987.[14] But "phase" also fails to capture the full meaning of wuxing. In some contexts, the wuxing are indeed associated with physical substances.[15] Historian of Chinese medicine Manfred Porkert proposed the (somewhat unwieldy) term "Evolutive Phase".[15] Perhaps the most widely accepted translation among modern scholars is "the five agents", proposed by Marc Kalinowski.[16]

## Cycles

In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a generating or creation (生 shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overcoming or destructive (克 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]

### Inter-promoting

The generating cycle (相生 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 (相洩/相泄 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 (相克 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 (相乘 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 (相侮 xiāngwǔ or 相耗 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 | Water

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Heavenly Stems  | Jia 甲
Yi 乙 | Bing 丙
Ding 丁 | Wu 戊
Ji 己 | Geng 庚
Xin 辛 | Ren 壬
Gui 癸
Year ends with  | 4, 5 | 6, 7 | 8, 9 | 0, 1 | 2, 3

### Ming neiyin

In Ziwei divination, neiyin (纳音) further classifies the Five Elements into 60 ming (命), 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.

Order  | Ganzhi  | Ming  | Order  | Ganzhi  | Ming  | Element

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1 | Jia Zi 甲子 | Sea metal 海中金 | 31 | Jia Wu 甲午 | Sand metal 沙中金 | Metal
2 | Yi Chou 乙丑 | 32 | Yi Wei 乙未
3 | Bing Yin 丙寅 | Furnace fire 炉中火 | 33 | Bing Shen 丙申 | Forest fire 山下火 | Fire
4 | Ding Mao 丁卯 | 34 | Ding You 丁酉
5 | Wu Chen 戊辰 | Forest wood 大林木 | 35 | Wu Xu 戊戌 | Meadow wood 平地木 | Wood
6 | Ji Si 己巳 | 36 | Ji Hai 己亥
7 | Geng Wu 庚午 | Road earth 路旁土 | 37 | Geng Zi 庚子 | Adobe earth 壁上土 | Earth
8 | Xin Wei 辛未 | 38 | Xin Chou 辛丑
9 | Ren Shen 壬申 | Sword metal 剑锋金 | 39 | Ren Yin 壬寅 | Precious metal 金白金 | Metal
10 | Gui You 癸酉 | 40 | Gui Mao 癸卯
11 | Jia Xu 甲戌 | Volcanic fire 山头火 | 41 | Jia Chen 甲辰 | Lamp fire 佛灯火 | Fire
12 | Yi Hai 乙亥 | 42 | Yi Si 乙巳
13 | Bing Zi 丙子 | Cave water 洞下水 | 43 | Bing Wu 丙午 | Sky water 天河水 | Water
14 | Ding Chou 丁丑 | 44 | Ding Wei 丁未
15 | Wu Yin 戊寅 | Fortress earth 城头土 | 45 | Wu Shen 戊申 | Highway earth 大驿土 | Earth
16 | Ji Mao 己卯 | 46 | Ji You 己酉
17 | Geng Chen 庚辰 | Wax metal 白腊金 | 47 | Geng Xu 庚戌 | Jewellery metal 钗钏金 | Metal
18 | Xin Si 辛巳 | 48 | Xin Hai 辛亥
19 | Ren Wu 壬午 | Willow wood 杨柳木 | 49 | Ren Zi 壬子 | Mulberry wood 桑柘木 | Wood
20 | Gui Wei 癸未 | 50 | Gui Chou 癸丑
21 | Jia Shen 甲申 | Stream water 泉中水 | 51 | Jia Yin 甲寅 | Rapids water 大溪水 | Water
22 | Yi You 乙酉 | 52 | Yi Mao 乙卯
23 | Bing Xu 丙戌 | Roof tiles earth 屋上土 | 53 | Bing Chen 丙辰 | Desert earth 沙中土 | Earth
24 | Ding Hai 丁亥 | 54 | Ding Si 丁巳
25 | Wu Zi 戊子 | Lightning fire 霹雳火 | 55 | Wu Wu 戊午 | Sun fire 天上火 | Fire
26 | Ji Chou 己丑 | 56 | Ji Wei 己未
27 | Geng Yin 庚寅 | Conifer wood 松柏木 | 57 | Geng Shen 庚申 | Pomegranate wood 石榴木 | Wood
28 | Xin Mao 辛卯 | 58 | Xin You 辛酉
29 | Ren Chen 壬辰 | River water 长流水 | 59 | Ren Xu 壬戌 | Ocean water 大海水 | Water
30 | Gui Si 癸巳 | 60 | Gui Hai 癸亥

## 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

Main article: Unsolved:Feng shui

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.[17]

An 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.

Movement | Metal | Metal | Fire | Wood | Wood | Water | Earth | Earth

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Trigram hanzi  | 乾 | 兌 | 離 | 震 | 巽 | 坎 | 艮 | 坤
Trigram pinyin | qián | duì | lí | zhèn | xùn | kǎn | gèn | kūn
Trigrams | ☰ | ☱ | ☲ | ☳ | ☴ | ☵ | ☶ | ☷
I Ching  | Heaven | Lake | Fire | Thunder | Wind | Water | Mountain | Field
Planet (Celestial Body)  | Neptune | Venus | Mars | Jupiter | Pluto | Mercury | Uranus | Saturn
Color  | Grey | White | Red | Green | Purple | Black | Blue | Yellow
Day  | Friday | Friday | Tuesday | Thursday | Thursday | Wednesday | Saturday | Saturday
Season | Autumn | Autumn | Summer | Spring | Spring | Winter | Intermediate | Intermediate
Cardinal direction | West | West | South | East | East | North | Center | Center

### Dynastic transitions

According to the Warring States period political philosopher Zou Yan (c. 305–240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified virtue (德; dé), which indicates the foreordained destiny (運; yùn) 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.[18]

### Chinese medicine

Main article: Medicine:Traditional Chinese medicine

Five Elements – diurnal cycle[citation needed]

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.[19][20]

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.[21][22]

Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water

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Planet | Jupiter | Mars | Saturn | Venus | Mercury
Mental Quality  | idealism, spontaneity, curiosity | passion, intensity | agreeableness, honesty | intuition, rationality, mind | erudition, resourcefulness, wit
Emotion | anger, kindness | hate, resolve | anxiety, joy | grief, bravery | fear, passion
Virtue | Benevolence | Propriety | Fidelity | Righteousness | Wisdom
Zang (yin organs)  | liver | heart/pericardium | spleen/pancreas | lung | kidney
Fu (yang organs)  | gall bladder | small intestine/San Jiao | stomach | large intestine | urinary bladder
Sensory Organ | eyes | tongue | mouth | nose | ears
Body Part  | tendons | pulse | muscles | skin | bones
Body Fluid  | tears | sweat | saliva | mucus | urine
Finger  | index finger | middle finger | thumb | ring finger | pinky finger
Sense | sight | taste | touch | smell | hearing
Taste[23] | sour | bitter | sweet | pungent, umami | salty
Smell | rancid | scorched | fragrant | rotten | putrid
Life  | early childhood | pre-puberty | adolescence/intermediate | adulthood | old age, conception
Covering  | scaly | feathered | naked human | furred | shelled
Hour  | 3–9 | 9–15 | change | 15–21 | 21–3
Year  | Spring Equinox | Summer Solstice | Summer Final | Fall Equinox | Winter Solstice
360°  | 45–135° | 135–225° | Change | 225–315° | 315–45°

### Music

The Huainanzi and the Yueling chapter (月令; Yuèlìng) of the Book of Rites make the following correlations:

Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water

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Color | Qing (green and blue) | Red | Yellow | White | Black
Arctic Direction  | east | south | center | west | north
Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch  | 角 | 徵 | 宮 | 商 | 羽
Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch pinyin  | jué | zhǐ | gōng | shāng | yǔ
solfege  | mi or E | sol or G | do or C | re or D | 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.[24]
* 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.[25]

### 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).[18]

The Five Steps (五步; wǔ bù):

* Jinbu (进步; 進步; jìnbù) – forward step
* Tuibu (退步; tùibù) – backward step
* Zuogu (左顾; 左顧; zǔogù) – left step
* Youpan (右盼; yòupàn) – right step
* Zhongding (中定; zhōngdìng) – central position, balance, equilibrium

The martial art of xingyiquan uses the five elements metaphorically to represent five different states of combat.

Movement  | Fist  | Chinese | Pinyin | Description

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Metal | Splitting  | 劈 | Pī  | To split like an axe chopping up and over
Water | Drilling  | 鑽 / 钻 | Zuān  | Drilling forward horizontally like a geyser
Wood | Crushing  | 崩 | Bēng  | To collapse, as a building collapsing in on itself
Fire | Pounding  | 炮 | Pào  | Exploding outward like a cannon while blocking
Earth | Crossing  | 橫 / 横 | Héng  | Crossing across the line of attack while turning over

Wuxing 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.[18]

## Gogyo

The Japanese term is gogyo (Japanese:五行, romanized: gogyō). During the 5th and 6th centuries (Kofun period),[26] 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.[27][28]

## See also

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

## Notes

1. ↑ Japanese: gogyō (五行);[1] Korean: ohaeng (오행); Vietnamese: ngũ hành (五行)
2. ↑ This order of presentation is known as the "Days of the Week" sequence. In the order of "mutual generation" (相生; xiāngshēng), they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. In the order of "mutual overcoming" (相克; xiāngkè), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.[3][4][5]

## References

1. ↑ Hayashi, Makoto; Hayek, Matthias (2013). "Editors' Introduction: Onmyodo in Japanese History". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies: 3. doi:10.18874/jjrs.40.1.2013.1-18. ISSN 0304-1042.
2. ↑ Theobald, Ulrich (2011) "Yin-Yang and Five Agents Theory, Correlative Thinking" in ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art
3. ↑ Deng Yu; Zhu Shuanli; Xu Peng; Deng Hai (2000). "五行阴阳的特征与新英译". Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine 20 (12): 937. http://www.cjim.cn/zxyjhcn/zxyjhcn/ch/reader/view_abstract.aspx?file_no=20001226.
4. ↑ Deng Yu et al; Fresh Translator of Zang Xiang Fractal five System，Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine; 1999
5. ↑ Deng Yu et al，TCM Fractal Sets 中医分形集，Journal of Mathematical Medicine ，1999，12（3），264-265
6. ↑ Dr Zai, J. Taoism and Science: Cosmology, Evolution, Morality, Health and more. Ultravisum, 2015.
7. ↑ Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 72.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dechar, Lorie (2006) (in English). Five Spirits: Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing. New York: Lantern Books. pp. 20–360. ISBN 1590560922.
9. ↑ Littlejohn, Ronnie. "Wuxing (Wu-hsing)" (in en-US). https://iep.utm.edu/wuxing/.
10. ↑ Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 73.
11. ↑ Hicks, Angela; Hicks, John; Mole, Peter (2010). Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture (Second ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences. ISBN 978-0-7020-4448-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=Au-DsixVkTwC. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
12. ↑ Nathan Sivin (1995), "Science and Medicine in Chinese History", in his Science in Ancient China (Aldershot, England: Variorum), text VI, p. 179.
13. ↑ 千古中医之张仲景 [Wood and Metal were often replaced with air]. Lecture Room, CCTV-10.
14. ↑ Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan) p. 73.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Nappi, Carla (2009). The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-674-03529-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=1Bf-Yb6zOcUC. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
16. ↑ Unschuld, Paul N. (2003). Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: Nature, Knowledge, and Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Text. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-520-23322-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=DW0lDQAAQBAJ&dq=wuxing+marc+kalinowski&pg=PA84. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
17. ↑ Chinese Five Elements Chart Information on the Chinese Five Elements from Northern Shaolin Academy in Microsoft Excel 2003 Format
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Chen, Yuan (2014). "Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China". Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 44 (1): 325–364. doi:10.1353/sys.2014.0000. https://www.academia.edu/23276848.
19. ↑ "Traditional Chinese Medicine: In Depth". https://nccih.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm.
20. ↑ Hafner, Christopher. "The TCM Organ Systems (Zang Fu)". https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/what-traditional-chinese-medicine/what-qi-and-other-concepts/-tcm-organ-sy.
21. ↑ "Five Elements Theory (Wu Xing)" (in en-US). 2019-10-27. https://www.chineseherbsinfo.com/five-elements-theory/.
22. ↑ "five element acupuncture" (in en-US). 2011-02-02. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/five-element-acupuncture.
23. ↑ Eberhard, Wolfram (December 1965). "Chinese Regional Stereotypes". Asian Survey (University of California Press) 5 (12): 596–608. doi:10.2307/2642652.
24. ↑ Mair, Victor (4 October 2019). "Grue and bleen: the blue-green distinction and its implications". https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=44569.
25. ↑ 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.
26. ↑ Watanabe, Kenji; Matsuura, Keiko; Gao, Pengfei; Hottenbacher, Lydia; Tokunaga, Hideaki; Nishimura, Ko; Imazu, Yoshihiro; Reissenweber, Heidrun et al. (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. doi:10.1093/ecam/neq067. ISSN 1741-427X. PMID 21687585.
27. ↑ Baracco, Luciano (2011-01-01). National Integration and Contested Autonomy: The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. Algora Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87586-823-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=3x5T23r6nUUC&pg=PA154.
28. ↑ "《赵城金藏》研究" (in Chinese). https://m.liaotuo.com/fjrw/jsrw/lfh/62721.html. [yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}]

## 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.
* Maciocia, G. (2005). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine (2nd ed.). London: Elsevier Ltd..
* Chen, Yuan (2014). "Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China". Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 44: 325–364. doi:10.1353/sys.2014.0000.

## External links

* Wuxing (Wu-hsing). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002.

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