Metal (wuxing)

Classical elements
Hellenistic Air Water Aether Fire Earth
Hinduism / Jainism / Buddhism Vayu Ap Akasha Agni Prithvi
Chinese Wood (木) Water (水) Fire (火) Metal (金) Earth (土)
Japanese Wind (風) Water (水) Void (空) Fire (火) Earth (地)
European alchemy Air Water Fire Aether Earth Sulphur Mercury Salt
v t e

In Chinese philosophy, metal or gold (Chinese: 金; pinyin: jīn), In the Wu Xing, it is the return or the declining stage. In Traditional Chinese Medicine Metal is yang within yin in character, its motion is going inwards and its energy is contracting. It is associated with the west, dusk, autumn, fall and old age, loss and grief. It governs the Yin, Zang organ the Lung and the Yang, Fu organ colon, nose and skin, body hair, pungent smell, the planet Venus, the color white, dry weather, and the White Tiger (Bai Hu) in Four Symbols. The archetypal metals are silver or gold.