Colors — Symbol Database

Red is the colour of Fire, of the south and of celebration — the default auspicious colour in Chinese practice.

Yellow is the colour of Earth and of the centre — and historically the colour reserved for the imperial house.

White is the colour of Metal, of the west and of autumn — and the traditional colour of mourning.

Black is the colour of Water, of the north and of winter — associated with the deepest and the unlit.

Qing is the traditional colour category covering blue, green and black-green — a single term where modern English uses three.

Green is Wood's colour and carries the reading of growth and of spring — with a specific secondary association in headwear.

Purple carries the reading of the auspicious vapour and of high rank — one of the more elevated colours in the tradition.

Gold is the colour of Metal at its most valued, and of the imperial and the sacred — the standard for what does not degrade.

Vermilion is the specific red of seal paste and of palace walls — a defined pigment rather than a general red.

Imperial yellow is the specific regulated shade reserved for the emperor — a colour defined by law rather than by appearance.

Jade green is the colour of the stone the tradition treats as the standard for integrity — green made permanent.

Indigo is the traditional blue dye, and the proverbial source for the idea that something can exceed its origin.

Crimson is the deep red of official robes and of formal settings — a rank colour rather than a festive one.

Azure is the sky's blue in the traditional vocabulary, and carries the reading of the heavens and of the open.

Silver is Metal's second colour — valuable, but consistently ranked below gold in the tradition.

Blue in the modern sense maps awkwardly onto the traditional palette, where it falls inside qing — the reading depends on which traditional term is behind it.

Orange is not one of the five principal colours and sits between red and yellow — a mixed colour without a strong independent tradition.

Pink is read as a lightened red and carries the peach blossom's associations — spring and the beginning of things.

Brown is the colour of the ordinary and the aged — of undyed cloth, worked wood and tilled ground.

Grey is the indeterminate colour — the tradition reads it as a stage between black and white rather than as a colour in itself.

Turquoise is read through the stone, which carries protective associations in several traditions and is one of the traditional treasures.

Scarlet is the bright red of the highest official grades and of formal dress — rank, rendered in the most visible red.

Ochre is the earth pigment — the colour of ground used as paint, and of walls and of the plain.

Ink black is the colour of the calligraphic and painting tradition — the one colour in which the tradition's most valued art is made.

The five-colour system is the framework itself: red, yellow, blue-green, white and black, mapped to the five elements and five directions.