Traditional Culture and Color Symbolism

Let us identify some of the traditional cultures and their preferences toward colors

China

Plate4 Five Natural Elements

(Source:http://www.google.co.in/search?q=ancient+chinese+five+elements&hl=en&noj=1&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=
u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ngDWT7ruPMSxrAe08NX7Dw&ved=0CHEQsAQ&biw=1350&bih=559 ; June 11, 2012)

Ancient China symbolized ‘five natural elements’ of the earth with five colors. Symbolically the colors associated with nature.

For more than 2000 years, the Chinese people have used brilliant colors. Today in modern China, red is a very popular color. However, contrary to popular belief, ancient peoples did not pay special attention to the color red. Traditional Chinese physics taught that the Five Elements of nature that surround us are- water, fire, wood, metal and earth, in that order. They correspond to black, red, blue-green, white and yellow, respectively. Five elements refer to the five basic substances that constitute the material world, namely wood, fire, earth, metal, water and their movement and transformation in the universe. In humans, for example, the elements determine our whole physical, psychological and emotional balance.

The ancient Chinese believed that wood, fire, earth, metal and water were indispensable to the natural world. These elements have different characteristics but they are closely related rather than separate or isolated.

Ancient Chinese people believed that the five elements made everything in nature. They gradually established a relationship between colors and the principle of the five elements, which guided the natural movement of heaven and the heavenly Tao.