Chinese cultural term · reviewed 2026-10-21
五行
Five Phases
wǔ xíng · five movements
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water: a relational model of transformation and restraint.
A familiar bridge
Start from something known.
Closer to a vocabulary of verbs such as generate and restrain than to five chemical elements.
Worked example
See the term in position.
Wood is conventionally described as generating Fire and restraining Earth; these are relational labels, not laboratory facts.
Cultural context
What surrounds the word.
The English phrase “Five Elements” is common, but “Five Phases” better conveys movement and relationship rather than five fixed substances.
Boundary
What it does not mean.
A visible count is not a strength diagnosis, and a “missing” phase is not automatically something to add.
Inside the portrait
How this term appears here.
The portrait counts the phases attached to visible stems and branches. This surface count is descriptive and does not select a lucky phase.