Wu Xing, Five Elements

In this important new addition to the Monkey Press Chinese Medicine
from the classics series, Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée continues her
exploration of the key concepts of Chinese medicine and philosophy
with a study of wuxing, the five elements, phases or movements.
In the West, the concept of wuxing has been variously embraced or
dismissed, often misunderstood, but never the subject of serious study in its historical context.
This fascinating book traces the development of wuxing theory from its
early beginnings – where we see the five elements in their literal sense,
as the five materials necessary for survival on earth – to its incorporation
into the sophisticated cosmological system of yinyang wuxing during the 2nd century BC E.
Guiding us through well chosen chapters of the Spring and
Autumn Annals and its commentary, the Huainanzi, and the medical texts of the Neijing Suwen,
Rochat de la Vallée explains the development of these ancient ideas which provide such an important basis for zangfu theory within Chinese medicine.

‘The theory of wu xing
provides a link between
phenomena and things which
may be appear very different
but which have a similar
quality and movement of qi.’