Plants and animals help keep the soil fertile. Plant roots tunnel through the soil and break it up, and decaying plants form humus. Burrowing animals mix the soil; the excrete of animals contribute nutrients and improve soil structure.
Chinese medicine is a system of medicine partly based on the idea that an energy, called qi (say chee), flows along pathways in the body called meridians. In this belief, if the flow of qi along these meridians is blocked or unbalanced, illness can occur.
The Five Elements in Chinese Medicine. The five elements, also called Wu Xing represent the processes that are fundamental to the cycles of nature, and therefore correspond to the human body. The chinese term xing means the process of one thing acting upon another. In relation to the five elements, the cycle of processes can be represented as: 1  wood feeds fire.  fire creates ashes which form earth.