五化

wǔ huà

The five transformations · wu hua

Also rendered: The five transformations (this site; 化 is change that brings a thing to its form, and the five are the five steps of the year) · The five workings (literal; shorter, and it loses the sense of each step having a shape to arrive at)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-13

At a glance

Pinyin: wǔ huà
Simplified: 五化
Literal: 五 wǔ — five; 化 huà — transformation, the turning of one thing into another (《說文》: 化，教行也; the received sense in these chapters is change that brings a thing to its form). 五化 is the five transformations taken together — 生、長、化、收、藏, the five steps of a year — and the chapter's five even circuits are each said to carry them in a different way: level, even, ordered, bright, all-complete.
Shuowen: **「五化」本篇5見，皆在五平紀之首段**；**《說文》：化，教行也；徐灝曰，化者事之變**；**五平紀之文各以一字狀之：宣平、均衡、齊脩、宣明、咸整**；**「化」本篇59見，單用者最多**；**「平氣」本篇2見，五化咸整則謂之平氣**

In brief

The five transformations of a year — 生、長、化、收、藏 — which this chapter uses to say what condition the year is in. Each of the five even circuits is given it with a different predicate: 敷和之紀…五化宣平, 升明之紀…五化均衡, 備化之紀…五化齊脩, 審平之紀…五化宣明, 靜順之紀…五化咸整. The five predicates are the whole judgement of the year in one word each: the five transformations spread and level, or even in measure, or ordered together, or bright and open, or all of them complete. Below the even circuits the term is not used again — when a circuit falls short or goes to excess, the chapter names the single transformation that fails (化氣乃揚、化氣乃昌、長氣不宣), because a broken year is described by which step broke rather than by the five together.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graph 五化

五者五氣之化，化者生化

五化宣平 — Suwen 70

Under each even circuit 宣平、均衡、齊脩、宣明、咸整

五化之狀各隨其紀

五化均衡 — Suwen 70

The five steps 生、長、化、收、藏

五化即五時之化

故生而勿殺，長而勿罰 — Suwen 70

Its health 平氣者五化咸整

五紀皆平，則五化皆得其正

五化咸整 — Suwen 70

Its failure 一化不舉，則他化代行

化氣乃揚、乃昌者，一化失而勝者來

化氣乃揚 — Suwen 70

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

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1 passages

Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →

帝曰：三氣之紀，願聞其候。歧伯曰：悉乎哉問也。敷和之紀，木德周行，陽舒陰布，五化宣平，其氣端，其性隨，其用曲直，其化生榮，其類草木，其政發散，其候温和，其令風，其藏肝，肝其畏清，其主目，其榖麻，其果李，其實核，其應春，其蟲毛，其畜犬，其色蒼，其養筋，其病裏急支滿，其味酸，其音角，其物中堅，其數八。帝曰：三气之纪，愿闻其候。歧伯曰：悉乎哉问也。敷和之纪，木德周行，阳舒阴布，五化宣平，其气端，其性随，其用曲直，其化生荣，其类草木，其政发散，其候温和，其令风，其藏肝，肝其畏清，其主目，其谷麻，其果李，其实核，其应春，其虫毛，其畜犬，其色苍，其养筋，其病里急支满，其味酸，其音角，其物中坚，其数八。

Dì yuē: sān qì zhī jì, yuàn wén qí hòu. Qí bó yuē: xī hū zāi wèn yě. Fū hé zhī jì, mù dé zhōu xíng, yáng shū yīn bù, wǔ huà xuān píng, qí qì duān, qí xìng suí, qí yòng qū zhí, qí huà shēng róng, qí lèi cǎo mù, qí zhèng fā sàn, qí hòu wēn hé, qí lìng fēng, qí zàng gān, gān qí wèi qīng, qí zhǔ mù, qí gǔ má, qí guǒ lǐ, qí shí hé, qí yìng chūn, qí chóng máo, qí chù quǎn, qí sè cāng, qí yǎng jīn, qí bìng lǐ jí zhī mǎn, qí wèi suān, qí yīn jué, qí wù zhōng jiān, qí shù bā.

Huang Di said: as for the order of the three qis, I wish to hear their manifestations. Qi Bo said: how thorough the question is! In the era of Spreading Harmony the virtue of wood travels all round; yang spreads and yin is laid out, and the five transformations spread evenly. Its qi is upright, its nature compliant, its use crooked and straight, its transformation growth and flowering, its class grass and trees, its governance dispersion, its climate mild, its command wind, its viscus the liver; the liver fears clear cool; it governs the eyes; its grain hemp, its fruit the plum, its kernel the pit, its answering spring, its creature the hairy, its domestic animal the dog, its colour blue-green, its nourishment the sinews, its illness inner tension and propping fullness, its flavour sour, its note jue, its thing hard within, its number eight.

**「五化」本篇5見，皆在五平紀之首段**；**五紀之文各以一字狀之：敷和宣平、升明均衡、備化齊脩、審平宣明、靜順咸整**；**此段為第一，敷和之紀，木德周行，陽舒陰布，五化宣平**；**「其榖」本篇19見，其榖麻、其榖麥等皆在此五段及其後五段**

Compounds built on this term

化

huà

transformation

本篇59見；單用之「化」最多

平氣

píng qì

balanced qi

本篇2見；五化咸整，是謂平氣

五運

wǔ yùn

the five circuits

本篇1見；五運迴薄而五化有盛衰

五類

wǔ lèi

the five classes

本篇3見

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This site	the five transformations	the five steps of the year taken together; the predicates the chapter gives them are judgements of the whole year, which the rendering keeps plural
Transliteration	wu hua	right about the referent, and it does not say whether this is five changes or one fivefold change
Descriptive	the five stages of the year's working	exact, and it turns a name the chapter uses as a subject into a description

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2026-10-13

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