章 30: The Five Elements

Apart from Yin and Yang, Anji learned about the Five Elements from the Doctrine of the Mean. However, she had no idea they were also used in fengshui, martial arts and medicine until she saw Doctor He's notes.

The five elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—were not mere creations, but the very fabric of the world's inception. Each element possessed a distinct set of properties, and their relationships were a complex dance of support and opposition, a spectacle that boggled Anji's mind.

Each represented by a colour, Anji noticed how they were also represented by seasons, even if there were only four seasons to match five elements. Interestingly enough, a small footnote mentioned that a patient's personality could also be subjected to the five elements. Palmistry was more of a fortune-telling trick used by street scammers to make a living. However, the concept was created by the I-ching book the Eight Trigram Palms were created from.