Chinese Philosophy – Five Elements

Wuxing Chinese: 五行 Wǔ xíng 'Five Elements, Five Agents, Five Movements"

metal - 金 Jīn

wood - 木 mù

water - 水 shuǐ

fire - 火 huǒ

earth - 土 tǔ

Wǔ (五) means five. Xíng (行) of Wuxing means moving; a planet is called a 'moving star' (行星) in Chinese.

Five Elements Theory is a Chinese philosophy used to describe interactions and relationships between things and phenomena. 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. It's Part of a series on Daoism.

Each element has its own characteristics and associations with different aspect of nature, such as direction, season, time, colour, tastes, virtues and so on.

You can ask your Chinese friends if their Chinese name has any Wuxing philosophy. Water, gold, and wood are most common Chinese radicals. In Chinese geomancy (divination practices such as Feng Shui), if your birthday data (the year, month, day and hour of a person's birth) really lacks one of these five elements, your family might consider trying adding it through your given name, and enhancing your name with some specific characters containing the lacking element. That's why some Chinese given names contain components of one of these five elements.

Wuxing

The Fixed Elements of 12 Chinese Zodiacs Sign

In Chinese astrology, each of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs is associated with one of the five elements as below.

Fixed Element	Chinese Zodiac Sign
Wood	Tiger, Rabbit
Fire	Snake, Horse
Earth	Ox, Dragon, Goat, Dog
Metal	Monkey, Rooster
Water	Pig, Rat

Astrology Associations

Characteristic	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Direction	East	South	Center	West	North
Heavenly Creatures	Azure Dragon	Vermilion Bird	Yellow Dragon	White Tiger	Black Tortoise
Color	Green	Red	Yellow	White	Black
Virtue	Benevolence	Propriety	Fidelity/ Honesty	Righteous- ness	Wisdom
Represents	Creativity, luxuriance, blooming, and flourishing	Enthusiasm and passion	Nurturing, stability, and security	Ambition, progress, persistence	Aptitude, brightness, agile mind

Interactions Between the Five Elements

Generating

Wood feeds Fire
Fire creates Earth (ash)
Earth bears Metal
Metal collects Water
Water nourishes Wood

Overcoming

Wood parts Earth (such as roots or trees can prevent soil erosion)
Earth dams (or muddies or absorbs) Water
Water extinguishes Fire
Fire melts Metal
Metal chops Wood

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxing_(Chinese_philosophy)

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/china-five-elements-philosophy.htm