This concept

of five elements or types applies to all types of things and ideas. For example, with each element is associated a colour (metal - white, water - black, wood - green, fire - red, earth - yellow), a direction (in order, West, North, East, South, Centre), a taste (acrid, salt, sour, bitter, sweet), and similar related categories for every imaginable attribute of reality - emotions, animals, senses, foods, etc.
Simplistically, Chinese Medicine is based on the five elements and their balance or harmonious interaction. Each element corresponds to a Yin organ (lung, kidneys, liver, heart, spleen) and Yang organ (colon, bladder, gall bladder, small intestine, stomach). In a person in good health, ch'i or internal energy flows through meridians, or invisible energy channels, to nourish all parts and organs of the body. Illness results from blockages or imbalances in the flow of ch'i, leading to an overabundance or deficiency of the energy corresponding to a particular element or elements.