In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Five Elements ( 五行 ): wood, fire, earth, metal, and water ( 木, 火, 土, 金, 水 ). These elements were used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. Five phases is another way of translating wuxing - literally, "five goings". Traditional Taijiquan ( 太极拳 )schools relate them to footwork and refer to them as five "steps".

The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating ( 生 ) cycle and an overcoming or restraining ( 克 ) cycle of interactions between the phases. In the generating cycle, wood generates fire; fire generates earth; earth generates metal; metal generates water; water generates wood. In the overcoming cycle, wood overcomes earth; earth overcomes water; water overcomes fire; fire overcomes metal; metal overcomes wood.

The doctrine of five phases was employed in many fields of early Chinese philosophy, including seemingly disparate fields such as music, traditional Chinese medicine, and military strategy.