wu-hsing Chinese term meaning ‘five phases, processes, or elements’. The five phases – earth, wood, metal, fire, and water – along with yin and yang, were the basis of Chinese correlative cosmologies developed in the Warring States period (403–221 B.C.) and early Han dynasty (206 B.C. – . . 220). These cosmologies posited a relation between the human world and the natural order. Thus the five phases were correlated to patterns in human history such as the cyclical rise and fall of dynasties, to sociopolitical order and the monthly rituals of rulers, to musical notes and tastes, even to organs of the body. Whereas the goal of early cosmologists such as Tsou Yen was to bring the human order into harmony with the natural order via the five phases, Han dynasty cosmologists and immortality seekers sought to control nature and prolong life by manipulating the five phases, particularly within the body. R.P.P. & R.T.A.