The Five Colours
Overview
This is the entry that makes the others coherent. The tradition does not have an open colour vocabulary — it has five principal colours, and everything else is read as a combination of them.
Meaning
The five-colour system is the framework itself: red, yellow, blue-green, white and black, mapped to the five elements and five directions.
Traditional Interpretation
Sources map the five to Fire, Earth, Wood, Metal and Water; to south, centre, east, west and north; and to summer, the turn of seasons, spring, autumn and winter.
Related Concepts
FAQ
What does the five colours symbolize in Chinese tradition?
The five-colour system is the framework itself: red, yellow, blue-green, white and black, mapped to the five elements and five directions. This is the entry that makes the others coherent. The tradition does not have an open colour vocabulary — it has five principal colours, and everything else is read as a combination of them.
Is the five colours an auspicious color?
It depends on the setting rather than on the color alone. The five-colour system is the framework itself: red, yellow, blue-green, white and black, mapped to the five elements and five directions. The correspondence set is the point: a colour in the tradition is never just a colour, it is a position in a five-part scheme that also contains directions, seasons and organs.
How is the five colours read in Chinese tradition?
Sources map the five to Fire, Earth, Wood, Metal and Water; to south, centre, east, west and north; and to summer, the turn of seasons, spring, autumn and winter. It is grouped under Earth (土) in the five-element system.
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