Five elements
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The five elements (Chinese: 五行 Wu Xing) is an idea in Taoism. Unlike the greek 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)