What is Five elements?
{{Expand English}} [[File:Wu_Xing.png|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wu_Xing.png|right|thumb|300x300px|The cycle of the elements]] The '''five elements (Chinese: 五行 Wu Xing)''' is an idea in [[Taoism]]. Unlike the greek [[Classical elements|four elements]], they have a cycle connecting them all. There is a generative cycle and a destructive cycle. The destructive cycle is seen as giving bad luck and the generative cycle is seen as giving good luck. The generative cycle is: * Wood feeds Fire (by burning) * Fire makes Earth (lava, ash, molten lava, etc) * Earth makes Metal (mining for metal) * Metal carries Water (buckets, water vapour condenses onto metal) * Water feeds Wood (trees) The destructive cycle is: * Wood grasps Earth (sticks falling on the ground, roots of trees preventing soil erosion) * Earth contains water (sea, ocean, riverbank, etc) * Water stops Fire * Fire melts Metal * Metal chops Wood (metal axes) == Related pages == * [[Feng shui]] == References == {{Reflist}} [[Category:Taoism]]