The five elements refer to wood, fire, earth, metal, and water and their motions. The five element theory resulted from the observations and studies of the natural world by the ancient Chinese people in the course of their lives and productive labor. Since ancient time, wood, fire, earth, metal and water have been considered as basic substances to constitute the universe and they are also indispensable for life. Zuo's Interpretation of the Spring and Autumn Annals (Zuo Zhuan) says:" The five kinds of materials in nature are all used by people. None of them cannot be dispensed with". Another classical work Shang shu states: "water and fire are used for cooking, metal and wood are used for cultivating and earth gives birth to all things, which are used by people." These five kinds of substances are of the relationships of generation and restriction and are in constant motion and change. In TCM the five-element theory, as a theoretical tool, is used to explain and expound different kinds of medical problems by analogizing and deducing their properties and interrelations. It also used to guide clinical diagnosis and treatment. The theory, like the theory of yin-yang, has become an important component of the theoretical system of TCM.

 五行指的是木、火、土、金、水和它们的运动。五行理论来自于古代中国人民在生活和生产劳动中对自然界的观察和学习。自古代以来，木、火、土、金、水就被认为是宇宙组成的基本物质，也是生命不可缺少的物质。《左传》曰：天生五材，民并用之，废一不可。另一部经典著作《尚书》曰：水火用于炊煮，金木用于耕耘，土壤用于孕育万物，一切皆为民所用。这五种物质存在相生相克的关系，并处于持续的运动变化之中。中医的五行理论，作为一种理论工具，通过分析和推理用于详细说明五种不同医学问题的性质和它们之间的关系。它也用于指导临床的诊断与治疗。该理论如阴阳理论一般已称为中医理论系统的重要组成部分。

    Classification of Things in Light of the Five-Element Theory.

    根据五行理论进行归类

    In ancient China, the five-element theory was unceasingly developed and gradually became perfected. In time it came to recognize that everything in nature might be respectively attributed to one of the five elements. For instance, wood has the nature of growing freely and unfolding. So, anything that is similar to the characteristics is attributed to the category of wood. Fire has the nature of flaring up. Thereby the things similar to the nature of fire are classified into the attribute of fire. Earth has the nature of giving birth to all things. Thus, those that possess the nature of earth are attributed to earth. Metal has the nature of purifying and descending. Hence, those with the nature of metal can be attributed to metal category. Water has the nature of moistening and flowing downwards. For this reason, the things that have moistening, downward movement and coldness correspond to water. The following table shows the classification of partial things according to the five-element theory.(See Tab. 1)

在古代中国，五行理论不断发展渐致完善。后来，人们认识到自然界中的所有事物都能归属于五行中的一种。例如，木有生发伸展的性质，所以，任何有相似特性的物质都归属于木。火性炎上，因此，任何有相似特性的物质都归属于火。土有孕育万物的性质，因此，具有该性质的物质都属于土。金有净化和沉降的性质，因此，有金的性质的物质都归于金。水曰润下，因此，具有湿润、向下、寒冷性质的物质都属于水。以下的表格根据五行理论将部分物质进行了归类。(见表1)

    Among the five-elements, there exist the relationships of generation, restriction, subjugation and counterrestriction, and mutual affection between mother-organ and child-organ. Generation implies that one kind of thing can promote, aid or bring forth another, i. e., wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water, in turn, generates wood. Each of the five elements contains the dual nature -"being generated" and "generating". This relationship of the five elements is called the "mother-child" relationship. The element that generates is called the "mother", while the element that is generated is called the "child". Take wood for example, because wood produces fire, it is the mother of fire; but it is produced by water, so it's water's child.

五行当中存在生、克、乘、侮和母子相互影响的关系。生意味这一种物质可以促进、援助、产生另外一种物质，例如，木生火、火生土、土生金、金生水、水生木。五行中的任何一行都有生我和我生的双重性质。五行的这种关系叫做“母子”关系。五行中生我者为“母”，我生者为“子”。以木为例，因为木生火，故木为火之母；但是它由水所生，故又为水之子。

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