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Wu Xing (Five Phases)

Fire

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Origin 206 BCE to 220 CE

Fire (Huo) is the phase of high summer, the peak of yang: maximum activity, warmth, brightness, and upward-radiating expansion. Its cardinal direction is the south (placed at the top of Chinese charts), its color red, its climate heat, its flavor bitter, and its emotion joy, the outward, connecting warmth that, in excess, scatters into agitation. In the body its organs are the Heart (the yin zang organ, ruler of the vessels and seat of the shen or spirit and consciousness) together with the Small Intestine (the yang fu organ), and in the classical system also the Pericardium and Triple Burner; its celestial body is Mars, the Fire Star. In the generating (sheng) cycle Fire is born of Wood and gives birth to Earth, its ash and warmth enriching the ground. In the controlling (ke) cycle Fire is quenched by Water and in turn restrains Metal, whose ore it melts and reshapes. Interpretively Fire signifies passion, communication, insight, and the illuminating clarity of an awakened mind, along with the risk of burning too hot.

Facts
Attributions
Ruling Planet
Mars 1
Generates
Earth 1
Controls
Metal 1
Associated Emotion
Joy 1
Associated Taste
Bitter 1
Direction
South 1
Season
Summer 1
Associated Color
Red 1
Yin Organ
Heart 1
Yang Organ
Small Intestine 1
Origins
Origin Period
206 BCE to 220 CE 1Tradition: Han correlative cosmology
Origin Period
400 BCE to 250 BCE 2Tradition: Hongfan, the Great Plan chapter of the Documents
Origin Period
Fire is one of the five phases that take shape among Warring States naturalist philosophers, traditionally associated with Zou Yan, in the fourth and third centuries BCE; the full correlative scheme binding each phase to organs, colors, tastes, seasons and directions belongs to Han dynasty cosmology, 206 BCE to 220 CE. 1
Language
Classical Chinese 2
Identity
Position
2 of 5 1
Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting Source
The classical definition is a behaviour, not a season, a colour or an emotion 2Tradition: Hongfan, the Great Plan chapter of the Documents
Meaning in the Attesting Source
The Hongfan defines fire by what it does: it blazes and it rises 2Tradition: Hongfan, the Great Plan chapter of the Documents
Learn More
Fire, the Phase of Heat and Ascent

Fire (huo) is one of the Wu Xing, the five phases of Chinese cosmology. It is the phase of heat, brightness, and upward, outward movement, associated in the classical correspondences with the direction south, the colour red, the season of summer, the emotion of joy, and the bitter taste. In the generating cycle (sheng) Fire produces Earth, its ashes enriching the ground; in the controlling cycle (ke) Fire restrains Metal, melting and reshaping it. These cycles of mutual generation and control order the relations among the five phases and underlie their application in Chinese medicine, the almanac, feng shui, and the art of fate calculation. These are the conventions of the Chinese cosmological tradition, in which the five phases are woven into a broad system of correspondence linking directions, seasons, organs, colours, tastes, and emotions.

Fire follows Wood in the generating cycle (Sheng) because wood burns and produces flame, and it generates Earth in turn, since ash returns to soil. In the controlling cycle (Ke), Fire melts Metal, while Water controls Fire by quenching it. The Han-dynasty correlative system set out in texts such as the Huangdi Neijing assigns Fire to the heart and small intestine, the bitter taste, the colour red, the direction south, and the season of summer, and it associates the phase with joy in excess and with the spirit or shen said to reside in the heart. In four pillars (BaZi) astrology a chart dominated by Fire is read as ardent and expressive but prone to burning out without the moderating check of Water.

Sources Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 2: History of Scientific ThoughtJoseph Needham with Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknown, Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching Out to the StarsHo Peng Yoke

Fire in the Generative and Controlling Cycles

Fire sits at the peak of the Wu Xing cycle, the phase of greatest expansion before the turn back inward. In the generative, or Sheng, order Wood feeds Fire, as fuel feeds a flame, and Fire in turn feeds Earth, its ash enriching the ground. In the controlling, or Ke, order Fire controls Metal, melting it, while Fire is itself controlled by Water, which extinguishes it. The two cycles run at once in any reading of a person or a season, and a practitioner is trained to ask which relationship has slipped rather than which single phase is to blame.

In Chinese medicine Fire governs the Heart and its paired Small Intestine, and by extension the tongue, the blood vessels, and the capacity for joy; an excess is read as Fire blazing unchecked, a deficiency as a flame gone cold, both disturbing sleep and speech, which the classical sources place under the Heart's charge. Fire's season is summer, its direction south, and its colour red, correspondences carried into ritual timing and into the placement of red and pointed, upward forms in feng shui practice.

The generative and controlling relationships are also the diagnostic backbone of five-phase acupuncture: a practitioner treats not Fire alone but the phase feeding it, controlling it, or drained by its own excess, a systemic logic that distinguishes the Wu Xing from a simple list of five correspondences.

Sources Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 2: History of Scientific ThoughtJoseph Needham with Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknown

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

1926, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1926 together with 1927, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1927, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1927 together with 1926, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1936, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1936 together with 1937, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1937, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1937 together with 1936, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1946, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1946 together with 1947, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1947, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1947 together with 1946, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1956, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1956 together with 1957, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1957, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1957 together with 1956, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1966, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1966 together with 1967, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1967, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1967 together with 1966, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1976, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1976 together with 1977, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1977, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1977 together with 1976, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1986, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1986 together with 1987, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1987, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1987 together with 1986, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1996, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1996 together with 1997, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
1997, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 1997 together with 1996, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
2006, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 2006 together with 2007, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
2007, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 2007 together with 2006, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
2016, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Bing, which is yang fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 2016 together with 2017, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
2017, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Ding, which is yin fire. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Fire covers 2017 together with 2016, and returns after ten years.

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham
Nine Purple, Flying Stars
Source The Living Earth Manual of Feng-Shui: Chinese GeomancyStephen Skinner
Vermilion Bird, Mythical Creatures

Fire, the phase of the south and of summer.

Contained In

Wu Xing, Disciplines

One of the five phases the system is made of.

Disciplines That Use This

Tai Chi, Disciplines

The five phases, which order the form as they order the rest of Chinese medicine.

Source Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing DynastyDouglas Wile

Originates in Language

Classical Chinese, Languages
Source The Five "Confucian" ClassicsMichael Nylan
Sources
1. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas
Paul U. Unschuld, University of California Press, 1985On the doctrine of systematic correspondence and the five phasesView the Source
2. The Five "Confucian" Classics
Michael Nylan, Yale University Press, 2001On the Documents, and the Hongfan enumeration of the five phasesView the Source
Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 2: History of Scientific Thought
Joseph Needham, Cambridge University Press, 1956Fire: the generating and controlling cycles and correspondencesView the Source
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