What are the historical sites about the Five Elements in China?

The Five Elements is China's ancient material view. Mostly used in philosophy, Chinese medicine and divination. The five elements refer to: gold, wood, water, fire and earth. It is believed that nature is composed of five elements, and with the rise and fall of these five elements, nature changes, which not only affects people's fate, but also makes everything in the universe circulate endlessly. According to the theory of five elements, everything in the universe is composed of the movement and change of five basic substances: wood, fire, earth, gold and water. It emphasizes the whole concept and describes the structural relationship and movement form of things. If Yin and Yang are an ancient theory of unity of opposites, the five elements can be said to be a primitive general system theory.

Five elements: water, fire, wood, gold and earth. X. White Tiger Map

This picture is carved on the side of the first stone in this chapter, 25cm high and 90cm wide. The photos are intact.

The White Tiger is one of the four elephants in China traditional culture, nicknamed "God of Soldiers". According to the theory of five elements, it is a spirit beast representing the west. The white tiger is both a name and a race, and the position of the Qinglong is in the east-right direction, representing spring. The orientation of the white tiger is west to left, representing autumn; Suzaku's orientation is south back, representing summer; The orientation of Xuanwu is north and front, representing winter.

White tiger is regarded as the god of zhenxi by Han people. "Lun Heng" said: "Twelve gods in the house, twelve dragons and tigers, dragons and tigers are evil gods, and ghosts are also heaven."

White tiger has also been included in the door god, specializing in guarding the Taoist temple gate. Song Fanzhineng, a native of Yueyang, said: "There are two gods in Laozi Temple, namely Qinglong and Baihu." According to Yao's view of Shu Temple in Changshu Private Records, "There are two great gods at the entrance of the temple, the dragon god on the left and the white tiger god on the right."

Carving a white tiger on this stone probably means to let the white tiger guard the tomb door to ward off evil spirits and avoid evil and rest in peace. Master is obviously a devout believer and believes in Taoism.

This stone was unearthed in Xuzhou and is now collected in Shilanzhai, Xuzhou.