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An Interactive Reference for the Five Elements

By Shing Lyu October 28, 2026

Disclaimer: This content reflects my personal opinions, not those of any organizations I am or have been affiliated with. Code samples are provided for illustration purposes only, use with caution and test thoroughly before deployment.

I added a Five Elements interactive reference to my Volume 1 quick reference. It brings the correspondences together in a wheel and table, with options to explore the relationships and switch between English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese labels.

It’s based on Table 1.5, Figure 1.4, and the discussion of Five Elements relationships in Essentials of Chinese Medicine: Vol. 1. Foundations of Chinese Medicine, edited by Zhanwen Liu (Springer, 2010).

You can also find it on the TCM landing page. If you spot an error, please use the email address shown at the bottom of this page.