Wu Xing, the Five Elements in Classical Chinese Texts

Description

By Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee
Trade paperback book
ISBN 9781872468143
172 pages, 5.00 x 7.00″

This 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, Elisabeth explains the development of these ancient ideas which provide such an important basis for zangfu theory within Chinese medicine.