China is an ancient civilisation with a cultural history of several thousand years and a rich cultural heritage with a wide range of complex and colourful varieties. As early as 2,500 years ago, there was a documentary record of the ‘five colours’. The traditional interior colour culture of China was influenced by ideology, hierarchy, technology and materials. The use of red and primary colours, the psychological effects of colour, the use of colourless colours and the emotional expression of colour are all important. With the rapid development of the Internet and the increasing convenience of modern transport, the process of global integration has been accelerated, regional and national differences have become smaller, ethnic integration and penetration are becoming faster and faster, and the influence of traditional colour culture on the spirit of the nation is becoming smaller and smaller.
As a postgraduate student of modern decorative design, and as a prospective art worker, I have an obligation and a responsibility to take the inheritance and development of China’s ancient culture as my own, and to do what I can in relation to these aspects. The study and collation of this cultural heritage, its historical value and its application to modern interior design, is a large and valuable task, which has important practical guidance and theoretical research value for our interior design today. It is important to analyse traditional colour culture and traditional Chinese interior colour culture, and to distil from it important elements that are realistic and operational for modern Chinese interior design, in order to form modern interior design with Chinese characteristics.
This paper draws from the five elements and five colours of traditional Chinese culture, and is divided into three chapters
This paper draws from the five colours of traditional Chinese culture and is divided into three chapters, which briefly describe the five Chinese colours and contemporary interior decoration colours.
The first chapter begins with a discussion of the origins of the five colours from three perspectives: the five directions, the five elements of yin and yang, and astronomy and calendars. Then the philosophical and cultural background of the five colours is explained from two entry points: philosophy and feng shui. Then the links and differences between the Chinese five colours and the modern Western colour system are explained in terms of the three primary colours and the inter-colours. It also illustrates the use of the five colours in history from the perspective of their use in royalty and folklore.
Chapter 2 explores contemporary interior colour, looking at the concept and background of contemporary interior colour, the psychological and physiological effects of colour on people, and the specific ways in which contemporary interior colour is used in different age groups and different interior areas.
The third chapter examines the five Chinese colours and contemporary interior colour, describing the relationship between the five Chinese colours and contemporary interior colour, the psycho-social background, and the principles and significance of combining the two. The focus of the article is on the use of the five Chinese colours in contemporary interior decorative colour, firstly in general terms, and then in specific rooms with different functions, such as living rooms, bedrooms, study rooms, dining rooms, bathrooms and balconies, where the specific use of the five colours is highlighted.
Through the examination of ancient Chinese philosophical systems and social phenomena, combined with modern home colour design and style, from the perspectives of colour psychology, orientation and ecology, the use of the five colours in modern interior decoration is initially explored in the context of modern people’s psychological tendency to seek good fortune and wealth, while at the same time collating and studying ancient Chinese colour phenomena. In this particular period of unprecedented prosperity in China’s urbanisation and the rise of countless European-style buildings, the rational, scientific and dialectical use of the theory of the five elements and colours in interior design has real humanistic significance. This is an opportunity to attract more knowledgeable people to pay attention to, collate and discover the great research value and historical relevance of the five colours and even the five elements of yin and yang feng shui in China, to take the essence and remove the dross, so that the ancient traditional cultural knowledge that has been passed down through the millennia can be inherited and carried forward to serve the modern human society and the socialist modernisation of Chinese characteristics, and hopefully to contribute to the promotion of national culture and the inheritance and promotion of Chinese traditional culture. We hope to make our own contribution to the promotion of national culture, the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese philosophy and the use of colour science.

Chapter 1 A study of the Chinese five-colour system

1.1 The Origin of the Five Chinese Colours

1.1.1 Origin 1: The Five Directions and the Five Colours

The study of the “five colours” is an important part of the study of colour in the traditional culture of the plants. What are the “five colours”? “The five colours are green, red, yellow, white and black, according to the five directions. In the Zhouli-Kaogongji, it is written: “The five colours are used in the painting and drawing process. The cult of the five colours and the five elements of colour science were linked to the concept of orientation, and the view of colour at the time was that “all colours in their many variations are made up of the five basic colours”. The five colours were associated with the concept of orientation. The origin of the ‘five colours’, which has been documented in Chinese history dating back 2,500 years, is considered in the following ways.
In ancient times, people believed that “the four directions are called the universe, and the past and present are called the universe”. The Universe is a unified body made up of space, time, matter and energy. It is the synthesis of all space and time. The sense of space does not exist alone, it is the opposite of the sense of time. In the face of the vast and unfamiliar nature of the universe, the ancestors had a sense of ‘spatial fear’ that is unimaginable to us in modern times. In order to dispel this fear, the ancestors designated the place where the sun rises as the East, the place where it sets as the West, and the remaining two directions as the South and the North, and the observation direction in relation to these four directions was the centre, so that the four directions became five, namely “East, West, South, North and Centre. According to Mr. Pang, “If we can express this implied one, juxtaposing ‘centre’ with ‘north, south, east and west’ as the five directions, then it means that man has reached self-consciousness.” At this point, the relationship between colour and orientation, and cosmology, becomes clear, and when colour is linked to space and time in this way, the meaning of space and time is given to colour. It is a declaration that colour has joined the life of man. When people worship the directions, the auspiciousness and safety of the directions are the auspiciousness and safety of the colours, and the colours are both the object of worship and the worship itself. Space becomes an expression of one’s place in the world, and with the development of a clear sense of time, the essence of the concept of space and time is
M emerges. The sense of stability in space is obtained by the separation of time from the disorder of the flood, and with this stability there is order and rhythm. The basis of the above discussion is the background and coordinates for the discussion of the originality of the plants’ view of colour. This should be the origin and premise of the Five Elements and Five Colours theory.

1.1.2 Origins II. The Five Elements of Yin and Yang and the Five Colours

The primitive “five elements” theory sprang up in the Yin and Shang dynasties, when the universe was too large for the ancients to grasp their own destinies, and in order to achieve stability they wanted to find the common laws of movement inherent in all things in the complex and complicated world. At that time, people believed that the sky was round and the earth had five directions, with the centre being ‘China’, and each direction represented by a positive colour. This simple materialism believed that everything in the world was made up of the five most basic elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Each line is also represented by a positive colour, namely white for gold, green for wood, black for water, red for fire and yellow for earth. The book “Shang Shu – Hong Fan” says: “The five elements: one is water, two is fire, three is wood, four is gold and five is earth. The five elements are water, fire, wood, gold and earth. It is said to be salty for the lower part of the body, bitter for the upper part of the body, sour for the upper part of the body, pungent for the upper part of the body, and sweet for the wall of the body.” [2] This saying was used by the Chinese philosophers as a basis for their interpretation. [2] This statement is recognised as the earliest record of the Five Elements archetype and the origin of the other Five Numbers doctrines.
“The five elements have had a profound influence on Chinese culture, and the Chinese concept of colour is closely linked to the five elements. The ‘five colours’ arose from the concept of the ‘five elements’ in ancient Chinese philosophy. The five colours are not the five specific shades of colour that appear in the retina, but rather the five cultural symbols used by the ancient people of the pre-Qin dynasty to refer to the nature of the universe and the space and time of the earth.
The Huainanzi. What are the five stars? The East, also known as the Wood, is the emperor of the world, and its supporters, the Jumang, are the rulers of spring.
Its god is the star of the year, its beast, the dragon, and its sound, the horn, and its day, the A-B. In the south, the fire, the emperor Yandi, whose ruler is Zhu Ming, who rules the summer, and whose deity is Fluxus, whose beast is the vermilion bird, whose sound is Zheng, and whose day is C and D. In the centre, the earth, the emperor is Huangdi, whose support is Houtu, who rules the four directions with a rope; his deity is Zhenxing, whose beast is Huanglong, whose sound is Gong, and whose day is E and H. In the west, gold, the emperor is Shaohao, who is assisted by Matsui and rules the autumn; his deity is Tai Bai and his beast, the White Tiger, whose sound is Shang and whose day is Geng Xin. In the north, water is also present, and its emperor Zhuan Xu, who is assisted by Xuan Ming, rules winter with power; his deity is Cinnabar, and his beast Xuan Wu, whose sound is Yu.”[3] The east is blue. [3] The east is blue, the five elements are wood, and the image is that of the blue dragon, assisted by the wood god Jumang, the emperor of the east, Tai Qi, who is in charge of spring and the growth of all things in the world. In the south, the colour is red, the five elements are fire, and the image is that of the Vermilion Bird, assisted by the fire god Zhu Rong, while in the south, the Emperor Shennong (the sun god) holds a scale and is in charge of summer and the reproduction of all things. The west is white, and the five elements are gold. In the west is the white tiger, assisted by the god of gold, Matsui, and in the west by Shaohao, the emperor of heaven, who holds a quiver and is in charge of autumn and the ripening of all things under heaven. The north is black and the five elements are water, and the image is Xuanwu, assisted by the water god Xuanming. Zhuan Xu, the Northern Heavenly Emperor, is in charge of winter and is responsible for the collection of crops under the sky. The centre is yellow, the five elements being earth, and the central emperor is Huangdi, assisted by Houtu.
In the Laozi, it is said: “All things carry yin and hold yang. One yin and one yang is called the Tao, and the Tao gives birth to one, one to two, two to three, and three to all things. The Book of Zhou Yi says that everything in heaven and earth is born from the Way of Tai Chi and Yin and Yang. As the saying goes: “There is Taiji in Yi, which gives rise to the two yi, the two yi give rise to the four images, and the four images give rise to the eight trigrams”. The “taiji” refers to the chaotic universe, the “two rites” are yin and yang, the “four images” are the images of the four changing seasons, and the “eight trigrams The “eight trigrams” are the “four images” of Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gong and Tui, i.e. the “eight images” of Da, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, Mountain and Ze. The yin and yang theory, derived from the ‘taiji bagua’, holds that all the laws of nature can be summed up in the ‘taiji bagua’, and that the changes in nature, the origins of mankind and the ease of living are all rooted in the action of yin and yang, which unite to create heaven and earth.
In the course of their long social practice, the Chinese people have gradually developed a system of traditional Chinese philosophical thought centred on the ‘unity of heaven and man’. The fusion of the taiji bagua and the five elements of yin and yang became the source of thought for Confucius, Laozi, Mozi, Guiguzi and other scholars and philosophers of later generations, and permeated all areas of the economy, politics, military, culture, art and medicine of the time. “The ‘Five Colours System’ was formed.
The five elements and yin and yang are collectively known as the “five elements of yin and yang”. “The theory of the five elements of yin and yang was perfected in the Western Han Dynasty around the first century BC. For example, the five elements correspond to wood, fire, earth, gold and water; the five seasons correspond to spring, summer, summer, autumn and winter; the five colours correspond to green, red, yellow, white and black; the five positions correspond to left, front, middle and right; the five directions correspond to southeast, centre and northwest; the five stars correspond to Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury; the five gases correspond to wind, sun, rain, yin and cold; the five sounds correspond to horn, emblem, palace, shang and feather; the five constants correspond to benevolence, courtesy, righteousness and wisdom; and the five elements correspond to the five elements of the world. The five qi correspond to wind, yang, rain, yin and cold; the five sounds correspond to the horns, emblems, the palace, the Shang and the feathers; the five constants correspond to benevolence, propriety, faith, righteousness and wisdom; the five natures correspond to anger, desire, joy, fear and worry; the five tastes correspond to sourness, bitterness, sweetness, pungency and salt; the five spirits correspond to the Green Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the Yellow Dragon, the White Tiger and the Xuanwu. The system of yin and yang is not only a static classification system that summarises all the phenomena in the world, but also a dynamic system that is constantly revolving, mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining.
In the late Warring States period, Zou Yan put forward the idea of “the five elements producing victory”. By summing up the laws of the five seasons and the five elements as the basis for his theory, he argued that the five elements are “mutually generative” and “the five elements are mutually victorious”. The specific form of transformation is: “Wood gives birth to fire, fire gives birth to earth, earth gives birth to gold, gold gives birth to water, and water gives birth to wood”. These two forms illustrate the opposing and unifying relationships between things that support and constrain each other. The five elements are used to illustrate the regularity and stages in the process of movement and change. For example, ‘wood’ symbolises plants and has the function of growth, so ‘Shengde in wood’ means spring arrives, the direction is east and the colour is green; ‘fire’ has the function of heat, so ‘Shengde in fire’ means spring arrives, the direction is east and the colour is green. “The colour is red. “Gold is used to make weapons and has the function of cutting. “Water is cold and nourishing, and when ‘Shengde is in water’, winter begins, the direction is north and the colour is black. “The colour is black. Earth has the property of growing everything and is the dominant element among the five elements. Liu Shao’s “Wenxin Diao Long” says: “The five elements are in different positions, changing in a thousand ways and nurturing all kinds of people. The five elements are in different positions, changing in many ways, nurturing all kinds of people, giving shape to them, enjoying the air, colouring them, sounding them, overlaying them, and shaping them.
Firstly, the five elements of yin and yang say that everything is created from gold, wood, water, fire and earth, the ‘five elements’, and
The same is true of colour. “The sky has six qi and the hair has five colours”. “The ‘five colours’ are the basic building blocks of all colours. The theory of the five colours is fully consistent with the theory of the five elements.
Secondly, the matching of the ‘five colours’ with the ‘five elements’ was, in some ways, necessary to maintain the feudal ritual system. For example, the ruling class of the Zhou dynasty, from a hierarchical point of view, designated the ‘five colours’ representing the ‘five elements’ as the ‘proper colours’, symbolising respectability, while the other ‘inter-colours’ were relegated to the status of inferior colours. “The ‘five colours’, representing the ‘five elements’, were designated as the ‘proper colours’, symbolising nobility, while the other ‘intermediate colours’ were relegated to the status of inferior colours. The use of colours was strictly defined in later dynasties and generations, and the rank of ministers, social figures, religious ceremonial occasions and activities were all governed by very strict colour codes, which must not be confused and reversed, and “the rank of superior and inferior must not be exceeded.
Thirdly, the theory of the ‘five elements’ and the ‘five elements’ permeated all areas of society and guided people’s social life. Through thousands of years of civilisation, the theory has developed and spread, forming a way of thinking that is unique to the Chinese people. [4] All kinds of natural changes, social transformations, the rise and fall of dynasties, the fortunes of people, and even wars, are calculated and explained by the theory of the five elements of yin and yang. For example, the Five Elements of Yin and Yang were introduced into medicine, and the Five Elements of Life and Death were used to explain the mutual nourishment and restraint of internal organs.
The theory of the five elements was used to explain the interplay between the internal organs, and to guide treatment based on this theory, pioneering medicine. The Five Elements theory considers the heart to be fire, the liver to be wood, the spleen to be earth, the lungs to be gold and the kidneys to be water. The liver restrains the spleen (wood over earth) and the spleen nourishes the lungs (earth over gold). During the Wu-Yue dispute, Fan Li of Yue used the idea of the five elements of yin and yang when using the army. By closely linking yin and yang with the sun and moon, he deduced specific methods of using the army, such as using the yang path for attacking and the vagina for defending, and using the yang path for rigidity and the vagina for flexibility. In this way, the idea of the five elements of yin and yang was extended and expanded in all aspects of society, thus greatly enriching its cultural connotation and depth, so that the colours closely related to everyday life were logically incorporated into the five elements of yin and yang.