CHINESE TRADITION

Summary

As far as tradition in China is concerned, there is no such thing as a colour system as a Western
dictionary would define it. In the Western world, Aristotle, for example, had attempted to find a
harmony of colours. The Chinese strove toward similar interpretations, and between the 4th and
2nd century oriented themselves on the same pentatonic scale that dominated their music.
Accordingly, they accepted that in its entirety colour harmony comprised five basic colours: the
four cardinal points are defined by red in the south, standing for summer and fowls and poultry;
green lies to the east and represents spring, wood and the dragon; black is to the north and
stands for winter, water and the tortoise; white is placed in the west and represents autumn and
the tiger. Yellow, on the other hand, is allocated a special place and is therefore discussed in
more detail.

Chinese tradition regards mankind, society and the world equally, as the objects of a global
knowledge — a knowledge which incorporates the macrocosm and the separate microcosms it
contains. There are no laws for the Chinese; only models. This distinction is central if Chinese
culture is to be understood in the West. At the same time, the Western concept of a spirit
separate from matter is inconceivable to the Chinese, to whom the universe is merely a system of
behavioural entities which draw no distinction between spirit and matter.

Equivalents are fundamental to Chinese thought, and because there are so many, cataloguing is
essential. This also means that areas which to the Chinese are closely associated are subject to
strict separation in Western thought: cosmic and social order, philosophy and medicine,
geography and nutrition, art and the seasons. To a knowledge oriented towards equivalents, the
idea of analogy is of great significance: contrasts are preferred to opposites. At its centre, then, is
the reciprocity of terms (alternance) and the references which exist between them (correlation): a
"marriage of the gods", in the sense that human and divine attributes are exchanged. In the
Chinese tradition, colours are thus to be taken as being part of a latticework of equivalents
based on five fundamental elements and their products.

In the illustration, the five basic colours of the Chinese tradition are arranged according to their
equivalents:

Red: fire, reaching upwards, corresponds to the south as dictated by the traditional Chinese
cardinal points, and coincides with the warm season of summer.

Black: water, delving into the depths, is in the north. Its season, winter, is marked by the absence
of water, which at this time gathers in the northern "shallows of the world".

Green: wood, is in the east and relates to spring. Green, the colour of spring, is also the colour of
the world of plants.

White: metal, is in the west, with its season autumn with white as its colour — a white with a blue
tint. Incidentally, contrary to Western colour-systems, black and white are part of the same circle
in Chinese colour-systems.

Yellow: earth. In the code of the five elements, the earth has a carrying, supporting function, and
thus also assumes the function of primary source and nutrition: the plants sprout from the earth,
from where fire, too, breaks out; metals are extracted from its mines, and water flows from its
wells. The earth is the centre — the colour yellow; its taste is sweet, and its aroma is that of
perfume. Mankind as the yellow race, the inhabitants of this world, stems from this equivalent.
Two options for interpreting the large illustration are shown in the smaller drawing. One is
concerned with the Principle of Generation, and the other with the Principle of Dominance. In
Chinese tradition, servants are assigned an important function, since they combine and therefore
influence the elements. The servant of the generation principle is Cheng, and the servant of the
dominance principle is K'ev.

The System of Generation is explained in the lower illustration. Its servant Cheng is a
"constructor" — an anabolic — and his characteristic is continuity. With this servant as an aid,
each element becomes the procreator of its follower and the offspring of its predecessor (and is
thus mother or father, and son or daughter). In the system of equivalents, each colour, each
animal or each season creates the next, while sustaining the essence of its predecessor.

• The armoured animals like the tortoise, which correspond to the north, water and the
colour black, procreate the scaled animals like the dragon, which are always green, since
these belong to wood and are located in the east. The scaled animals in turn create the
fowls and poultry, to which the south and the colour red are ascribed. The feathered birds
in turn create the fur-covered animals, such as the tiger or the horse, which are
associated with the west, the metals and the colour white.
• Water brings forth wood, and wood nourishes the fire. Fire (ash) fertilises the earth, and
the earth brings forth metals. Metal creates water.

The Principle of Dominance is shown in the upper illustration. As opposed to Cheng (the servant
of dominance), K'ev, is a leveller — a catabolic — and his characteristic is moderation. According
to this principle, each element dominates another: the earth sucks up the water; water
extinguishes fire; fire melts metal, and metal splits wood. The sequence can no longer be
continuous, as is the case with the principle of generation, but merely alternating. The figure thus
formed is a star — shaped pentagon with an asymmetric centre. This portrayal illustrates the
asymmetry implied by Chinese thought — which prefers the principle of movement to a structure
of stability.

For a more complete understanding of the traditional Chinese system of colours, one principle
element is still missing, and this is the Chinese term Ts'ing. Ts'ing describes a particular condition
of colour, more specifically of two colours: green and blue. In Chinese, the single term Ts'ing
refers to both blue and green. Parallel to this term are two further ones: Lu for green and Lan for
blue. Naturally, the Chinese have no difficulty in distinguishing between green and blue, although
the term Ts'ing could indeed be misconstrued in this respect. Ts'ing means something more
sophisticated, namely a specific blue and a specific green, in a specific season under a specific
sky. Ts'ing is the green and the blue found in sprouting nature; it is a green-blue that relates to
wood and therefore, simultaneously, to the east and to springtime. The quality of Ts'ing relates to
that part of the system which connects the elements, the cardinal points, the animals, the parts of
the human body and so forth. Ts'ing provides the idea of purity and lightness, and signifies
everything that is tender, bright, clear and fine. When related to colours, the quality of Ts'ing
signifies their dynamic element, while Lu and Lan represent the static aspect of green and blue.
Ts'ing is motion, while Lu and Lan describe a purely geometrical arrangement of colours. Blue
and green contain a duality — they are of dual value, but never of dual meaning.

The five colours also contribute to the organisation of the world and its place within the harmony
of the cosmos. The world system suggests the idea of a combination of forces or influences and,
to an equal degree, the same mechanism — the same interplay — can be transferred to both the
physical and the social world. In line with their chosen sequence, the relationships between the
five colours can be portrayed in varying ways, and the resultant figure will either be a convex or a
star-shaped pentagon.
Here, the question will also arise as to whether the terms for intermediate chromatic hues are
known to the Chinese language. Those that do exist are evidence of an historical deterioration in
the perception of the material world in favour of a concentration around the five basic colours.

In addition to green, yellow also corresponds to the Ts'ing. From another perspective — that of
the physical world — this dual equivalent can be seen as an experiment, linked as a model to
the physical double line of sodium, which can be seen in the colour-circle within the yellow-red
(orange) band. Sodium possesses one of the simplest of spectrums, not actually monochromatic
but characterised by two adjacent lines (589 nm / 589,5 nm) which lie so near that they almost
coincide and appear to divide the colour-field into two parts. The placing of Ts'ing (green-blue) on
an equal footing with sodium (yellow) marks the place, as an intermediate point, where the
exchange is completed. The double line of sodium and the dual value of Ts'ing unite and
separate at the same time, and thus become driving forces. The four elements fire, air, water and
wood both form and characterise each season. A specific element is strong during its season,
growing weaker in both the adjacent seasons to become minimal during the opposite season.
During the seasonal cycle, however, the earth remains constant. Its purpose is to overcome the
inertia of each of the separate elements when they are at their minimum. When wood, for
example, is very weak in autumn, and must strengthen in order to reach its maximum in the
coming spring, and when its procreator, namely water, cannot help, because water is likewise in
the phase leading up to its maximum, the earth will intervene to stimulate wood until the winter
solstice arrives. The earth has the task of providing a motive force for the world system — and
thus overcoming the inertia of cosmic mechanics as a whole. This is why yellow can also be seen
as the median colour in the symbolism of China.