Fan’s portfolio

15/08/2025

Yifan Xiang

1. Qi (气)
The character qi first appeared in the Oracle Bone Script period in China (Fig. 1). It was written simply as three horizontal lines—long ones at the top and bottom, with a shorter one in the middle. Its earliest meaning referred to the rising of clouds, the rolling of clouds in the sky, or clouds passing through the mountains. In other words, it originally described such an “appearance.” In Shuowen Jiezi, it is said: “Qi is cloud and vapor; it is pictographic, and all things related to qi derive from qi.” This means that anything resembling this image could be represented by this character.

2. Yin and Yang (阴阳)
From the simplified forms: the right side of yin (阴) is “moon” (月), while the right side of yang (阳) is “sun” (日). Thus, yin represents the moon and darkness, while yang represents the sun and brightness. Looking at the traditional forms: the upper part of yin (陰) is “today” (今) and the lower part is “cloud” (云), meaning “clouds covering the sun,” thus darkness. Yang (陽) indicates the sun emerging and shining on the earth.

3. The Five Elements (五行)—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth
China has long been an agrarian civilization, so understanding nature was essential for survival. The Five Elements describe the patterns of movement observed in nature, not the physical substances themselves:

1. Wood (曲直态) — the upward-growing posture of trees.
2. Fire (炎上态) — the rising state of flames, symbolizing warmth, brightness, and untouchability.
3. Earth (稼穑态) — the movement of soil, representing the foundation of agriculture.
4. Metal (从革态) — the dynamic of transformation and reshaping, as tools were made by refining and reshaping materials.
5. Water (润下态) — the downward flow of water, the source of life, nourishing the land.

4. The Five Elements’ Mutual Restraint (五行相克)

• Wood overcomes Earth: In agricultural society, crops growing in the “wood-like” upward state depended on the cooperation of soil, but plants always break through the earth to grow upward.
• Metal overcomes Wood: The transformative force (cong ge) corrects the upward growth of wood by harvesting and cutting.
• Earth overcomes Water: Agriculture requires regulating water’s downward flow; otherwise, uncontrolled flooding would destroy crops.
• Fire overcomes Metal: Fire’s rising state enables farming methods like slash-and-burn, requiring controlled transformation of metal.
• Water overcomes Fire: Water’s downward flow extinguishes fire’s rising flames.

5. The Five Elements’ Mutual Generation (五行相生)

• Water generates Wood: Upward-growing life always needs water’s nourishment.
• Metal generates Water: Water adapts to containers and riverbeds—this flexibility is a form of transformation (cong ge). Thus, metal supports water’s flowing state.
• Earth generates Metal: Soil and farming activities led humans to make tools, showing transformation through earth.
• Fire generates Earth: “Without fire burning the mountain, the land is not fertile”—slash-and-burn farming enriched the soil for agriculture.
• Wood generates Fire: Tall, upright trees (wood’s state) attract lightning, igniting fire.

6. General Theory of the Five Elements
The Five Elements are not substances, but five states or transformations.

• Generation (生) means a potential, like storing energy before release. For example, when water’s downward flow reaches a point, it transforms into wood’s upward growth. Generation can be seen as empowering one state so it can transform into another. For instance, fire generating earth shows how the empowered fiery state transforms into earth’s supportive agricultural state.
• Restraint (克) means necessary limitation. Without restraint, balance is lost. For example, fire restrains metal: fire’s rising energy limits how much transformation (metal’s state) it can undergo.

7. The Eight Trigrams (八卦)
The Eight Trigrams originated in ancient times from the Hetu and Luoshu, which carried observations of nature within agrarian civilization. The basis was one yin and one yang, showing their interdependence. Lines were drawn: solid lines for yang, broken lines for yin. Three solid lines stacked vertically formed Qian (乾), representing heaven; three broken lines formed Kun (坤), representing earth. Combinations created the symbols for all things between heaven and earth.

The eight basic trigrams are: Mountain (Gen 艮), Lake (Dui 兑), Wind (Xun 巽), Thunder (Zhen 震), Fire (Li 离), Water (Kan 坎), Heaven (Qian 乾), and Earth (Kun 坤). They represented how people of that time observed and recorded the world.

As for origin, one widely accepted explanation is linked to ancient Chinese astronomy. The word “gua” (卦) can be divided into gui (圭, an earthen mound with a pole used to mark time) and bu (卜, resembling a stick with a weight tied by a rope, used to measure celestial positions). Together, this described an instrument: a bamboo pole placed on an earthen mound, with a string and weight to measure the positions of heavenly bodies. This theory remains speculative and unconfirmed.

8: Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches (天干地支)

The origin of the concept of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches cannot be verified, and various theories have circulated in society and texts. Here, we will not give a detailed introduction.

The Ten Heavenly Stems are: Jia (甲), Yi (乙), Bing (丙), Ding (丁), Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬), Gui (癸).
The Twelve Earthly Branches are: Zi (子), Chou (丑), Yin (寅), Mao (卯), Chen (辰), Si (巳), Wu (午), Wei (未), Shen (申), You (酉), Xu (戌), Hai (亥).

We can view these as a kind of mathematical permutation and combination: the Ten Heavenly Stems can be compared to Arabic numerals 1 to 10, and the Twelve Earthly Branches to letters A to L. Their combinations run from 1A, 1B, 1C … all the way to 10L, making 60 different combinations. For example: Jiazi (甲子), Jiachou (甲丑) … up to Guihai (癸亥). This was the traditional Chinese method of recording time, and years, months, days, and hours could all be expressed this way. This system is called the Sexagenary Cycle (六十甲子纪年法), a traditional Chinese calendrical method.

T

he Heavenly Stems each correspond to different elements:

• Jia (甲), Yi (乙) → Wood. Jia is Yang Wood, Yi is Yin Wood.
• Bing (丙), Ding (丁) → Fire. Bing is Yang Fire, Ding is Yin Fire.
• Wu (戊), Ji (己) → Earth. Wu is Yang Earth, Ji is Yin Earth.
• Geng (庚), Xin (辛) → Metal. Geng is Yang Metal, Xin is Yin Metal.
• Ren (壬), Gui (癸) → Water. Ren is Yang Water, Gui is Yin Water.

These ten Heavenly Stems also have corresponding positions in the sky:

• Jia and Yi (Wood) → East.
• Bing and Ding (Fire) → South.
• Wu and Ji (Earth) → Center.
• Geng and Xin (Metal) → West.
• Ren and Gui (Water) → North.
  This division also creates the attributes of the four directions.

The Earthly Branches also have different attributes:

• Hai (亥), Zi (子) → Water.
• Chou (丑) → Earth.
• Yin (寅), Mao (卯) → Wood.
• Chen (辰) → Earth.
• Si (巳), Wu (午) → Fire.
• Wei (未) → Earth.
• Shen (申), You (酉) → Metal.
• Xu (戌) → Earth.

The twelve Earthly Branches are also divided into Yin and Yang:

• Yang: Zi (子), Chou (丑), Yin (寅), Mao (卯), Chen (辰), Si (巳).
• Yin: Wu (午), Wei (未), Shen (申), You (酉), Xu (戌), Hai (亥).

Unlike the Heavenly Stems, the Earthly Branches can represent years (zodiac signs), months, and times of day. For example:

• Zi hour → 23:00–01:00
• Chou hour → 01:00–03:00
• Yin hour → 03:00–05:00
• Mao hour → 05:00–07:00
• Chen hour → 07:00–09:00
• Si hour → 09:00–11:00
• Wu hour → 11:00–13:00
• Wei hour → 13:00–15:00
• Shen hour → 15:00–17:00
• You hour → 17:00–19:00
• Xu hour → 19:00–21:00
• Hai hour → 21:00–23:00

For months, according to the lunar calendar:

• Yin → First month
• Mao → Second month
• Chen → Third month
• Si → Fourth month
• Wu → Fifth month
• Wei → Sixth month
• Shen → Seventh month
• You → Eighth month
• Xu → Ninth month
• Hai → Tenth month
• Zi → Eleventh month
• Chou → Twelfth month

The division of months is based on seasonal cycles:

• Yin, Mao, Chen (1st–3rd lunar months) → Spring
• Si, Wu, Wei (4th–6th lunar months) → Summer
• Shen, You, Xu (7th–9th lunar months) → Autumn
• Hai, Zi, Chou (10th–12th lunar months) → Winter

The Spring Festival falls in the first lunar month, Yin month, which represents the beginning of spring, when the weather gradually warms. That is why Chinese people call it the celebration of spring.

Each of the Twelve Earthly Branches also represents an animal, used for practical purposes in recording years (the zodiac animals are only applied to the unit of years). For example:
Zi (子) → Rat,
Chou (丑) → Ox,
Yin (寅) → Tiger,
Mao (卯) → Rabbit,
Chen (辰) → Dragon,
Si (巳) → Snake,
Wu (午) → Horse,
Wei (未) → Goat,
Shen (申) → Monkey,
You (酉) → Rooster,
Xu (戌) → Dog,
Hai (亥) → Pig.

This is what we commonly mean when we say: “This year is the Year of the … (animal).”

9: Chinese Musical Scales (中国的音律)

In this part, I may bring in some Western music theory for easier understanding in modern terms.

In Western physics, frequency is inversely proportional to wavelength, while wavelength is proportional to string length. Now, let us suppose we have a string of 81 units in length. When we pluck this string, the sound produced is Shang (商). If we cut off one-third of the string, the length becomes 54, and the sound is Zhi (徵). Then, adding one-third of 54 back (making 72) and plucking it again gives Shang. From 72, subtracting one-third gives 48, which is Yu (羽). Adding one-third to 48 makes 64, and the sound produced is Jue (角).

These are the most traditional five tones in Chinese music: Gong (宫), Shang (商), Jue (角), Zhi (徵), Yu (羽). This method is called the “Sanfen Sunyi” (Three-Part Reduction and Addition) method, where each step moves forward or backward by one-third. Arranged in modern solfège, they are equivalent to 1 (do), 2 (re), 3 (mi), 5 (so), 6 (la). This is why there is an old Chinese saying: when someone sings “without the five tones complete,” it means they cannot sing these five basic notes accurately.

On the basis of the five tones, the Chinese further used the Sanfen Sunyi method to create twelve musical pitches: Huangzhong (黄钟), Dalu (大吕), Taicu (太簇), Jiazhong (夹钟), Guxi (姑洗), Zhonglu (仲吕), Ruibin (蕤宾), Linzhong (林钟), Yize (夷则), Nanlu (南吕), Wuyi (无射), Yingzhong (应钟).

These correspond to the notes on the modern piano: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B. The difference from the twelve-tone equal temperament used today is not very large, as shown in Table 1.

Ancient Lü (Chinese)	Description in Shiji (Text)	Sanfen Sunyi (Numbers from Shiji)	Corrected Sanfen Sunyi	Western Note	Equal Temperament (Frequency Units)	Deviation between Sanfen Sunyi and Equal Temperament (%)
Huangzhong (黄钟)	8 cun 7 fen 1	81	81	C	81	–
Linzhong (林钟)	5 cun 10 fen 4	54	54	G	54.0610	0.11
Taicu (太簇)	7 cun 10 fen 2	72	72	D	72.1628	0.23
Nanlü (南吕)	4 cun 10 fen 8	48	48	A	48.1629	0.34
Guxi (姑洗)	6 cun 10 fen 4	64	64	E	64.2898	0.45
Yingzhong (应钟)	4 cun 2 fen 2/3	42.6667	42.6667	B	42.9083	0.56
Ruibin (蕤宾)	5 cun 6 fen 2/3	56.8889	56.6667	F#	57.2757	0.68
Dalu (大吕)	7 cun 5 fen 2/3	75.8519	75.6667	C#	76.4538	0.79
Yize (夷则)	5 cun 2/3	50.5679	50.6667	G#	51.0268	0.90
Jiazhong (夹钟)	6 cun 7 fen 1/3	67.4239	67.3333	D#	68.1126	1.01
Wuyi (无射)	4 cun 4 fen 2/3	44.9492	44.6667	A#	45.4597	1.12
Zhonglü (仲吕)	5 cun 9 fen 2/3	59.9323	59.6667	F	60.6814	1.23

Table 1: difference from the twelve-tone equal temperament

At the same time, these twelve names could also represent the twelve months (though this usage is uncommon):

• 1st lunar month → Taicu (太簇)
• 2nd lunar month → Jiazhong (夹钟)
• 3rd lunar month → Guxi (姑洗)
• 4th lunar month → Zhonglu (仲吕)
• 5th lunar month → Ruibin (蕤宾)
• 6th lunar month → Linzhong (林钟)
• 7th lunar month → Yize (夷则)
• 8th lunar month → Nanlu (南吕)
• 9th lunar month → Wuyi (无射)
• 10th lunar month → Yingzhong (应钟)
• 11th lunar month → Huangzhong (黄钟)
• 12th lunar month → Dalu (大吕)

The entire article, from “Qi,” “Yin and Yang,” “Five Elements,” “Bagua,” “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches,” to “Musical Scales,” gradually demonstrates the careful observation and abstract generalization of nature by the ancient Chinese people in their long-term life practices. Daoist philosophy is not a theory based on empty imagination, but arises from perceiving the laws of the operation of heaven, earth, and all things.

Behind these ideas lies a common point: the wisdom of Daoism is to follow nature, to observe nature, to summarize laws from natural changes, and then transform these laws into methods that guide people’s life, production, and cultural creation. Whether in agriculture, calendars, music, or philosophical thought, Daoism emphasizes the harmony between human beings and heaven and earth, using the order of nature to help people live and survive better.