Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the " Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural develop ...

, fire () is the prosper of the matter, or the matter's prosperity stage. Fire is the second phase of

Wu Xing Wuxing may refer to: Places in China Counties and districts *Huzhou, formerly Wuxing County, Zhejiang, China *Wuxing District (吴兴区), central district of Huzhou Subdistricts (五星街道) *Wuxing Subdistrict, Mudanjiang, in Dong'an District ...

. Fire is

yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration ...

in character. Its motion is upward and its energy is convective. Fire is associated with Summer, the South, the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, the color

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

(associated with extreme luck), hot weather, daylight, and the

Vermilion Bird The Vermilion Bird ( zh, c=朱雀, p=Zhūquè) is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations Traditional Chinese astronomy has a system of dividing the celestial sphere into asterisms or constellations, known as "officials" ( C ...

(Zhu Que) in the

Four Symbols The Four Symbols (, literally meaning "four images"), are four mythological creatures appearing among the Chinese constellations along the ecliptic, and viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions. These four creatures are also ref ...

Attributes

Traditional Chinese Medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

, ''Fire'' attributes are considered to be dynamism, strength, and persistence; however, it is also connected to restlessness. The fire element provides warmth, enthusiasm, and creativity; however, an excess of it can bring aggression, impatience, and impulsive behavior. In the same way, fire provides heat and warmth; however, an excess can also burn. Fire is associated with negative emotions of hate and the positive emotion is joy. The

organs In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a f ...

associated with the Fire element are the

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

(

yin Yin may refer to: *the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine *Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty **Yinxu or Yin, the S ...

) and small intestine (

), tongue and a body's pulse.

Astrology

The element plays an important role in

Chinese astrology Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. Chinese astrology came to flourish during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD). Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the ...

and feng shui. Fire is included in the 10

heavenly stems The ten Heavenly Stems or Celestial Stems () are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appear during the Shang dynasty, c. 1250 BC, as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-period ritual as names for dead family mem ...

(the five elements in their

yin and yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

forms), which combine with the 12

Earthly Branches The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are a Chinese ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, zodiac and ordinals. Origin This system was built ...

(or Chinese signs of the

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...

), to form the 60 year cycle. Yang Fire years end in 6 (e.g. 1976). (Yang years end in an even number.) Yin Fire years end in 7 (e.g. 1977). (Yin years end in an odd number.) Fire governs the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain ...

signs

Snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

and

Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

Flying Star Feng Shui Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui or ''Xuan Kong Fei Xing'' is a discipline in Feng Shui, and is an integration of the principles of Yin Yang, the interactions between the five elements, the eight trigrams, the Lo Shu numbers, and the 24 Mounta ...

uses number 9 to represent Fire. The South corner releases energy of Fire as I Ching and Feng Shui states. It is generally referred as energy of destroying and rebuilding. It also directly relates to a lucky lovelife.

Cycles of Wu Xing

In the regenerative cycle of Wu Xing,

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

engenders Fire as "fire is generated by rubbing together two pieces of wood" and it must be fueled by burning wood; Fire begets

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

as "fire reduces everything to ashes, which become a part of the earth again". In the conquest cycle,

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

overcomes ''Fire'' as "nothing will put out a fire as quickly as water"; ''Fire'' overcomes

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

as it "can only be melted and forged" by flame or heat.Theodora Lau, ''The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes'', pxxix-xxx, Souvenir Press, London, 2005

References

{{Wu Xing it:Fuoco (elemento)#Tradizione cinese