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The Five Elements

Eileen Hsu

Here are some questions about the five elements.

Q1: What are the five elements? A1: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

Q2: When or which dynasty is it? A2: The Qin Dynasty, the first emperor began.

Q3: Why were the five elements important in the Qin Dynasty? A3: The ancient Chinese believed that the universe was made up of five elements, so Qin believed it too.

Q4: How are they organized? A4: There were cycles, Daoists belived that these cycles reflected changes in human affairs.

Q5: Why? A5: Earth was very heavy, but a wooden shovel could dig it up. So earth was defeated by wood. Wood, in turn, was defeated by metal, which could cut it. Metal lost to fire, which could melt it. Fire was vanquished by water, which put it out. And Water was tamed by earth, which could channel and dam it.

Q6: What was the color of the five elements? A6: wood was green, fire was red, earth was yellow, metal was white and water was black.

Q7: What was the direction of the five elements? A7: Wood was East, fire was South, earth was center, metal was West and water was North.


 * For the reader: What did you think of five elements? Which is the best and why? Which is the worst and why?