The theory of five elements is an important achievement of China's ancient philosophy. The theory of five elements generalizes the attributes of different things in the objective world with five philosophical categories: wood, fire, earth, gold and water, and illustrates the mutual connection and transformation law of things with the dynamic model of the interaction of five elements. In the theory of five elements, five internal organs are matched with five elements, namely, liver and wood, heart and fire, spleen and soil, gold and lung, water and kidney. The five internal organs and elements should be relatively balanced, stable and harmonious. If the five internal organs and five elements are out of balance, it will also lead to the occurrence of diseases, which provides sufficient basis for inferring the improvement and malignant transformation of diseases and treatment methods. Traditional Chinese medicine mainly uses the theory of five elements to explain the functional relationship between five zang-organs and the mechanism of diseases when zang-fu organs are out of balance, and also to guide the treatment of zang-fu organs diseases.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the five elements reflect the relationship between the five systems of the human body and these five attributes. The five symbols of wood, fire, earth, gold and water respectively represent the five systems led by liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) does not study the theory of how microscopic viruses and bacteria act on the human body, but the relationship between various systems of the whole human body. Through TCM, massage, acupuncture and even psychological effects, the balance between various systems is adjusted to maintain good health.

The interaction of the five elements includes: mutual birth, mutual resistance, restraint, victory, mutual humiliation, multiplication and harmony between mother and child.