The ancient Chinese liked to divide things into five categories. Among them, the naming of Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn was mainly affected by the color of the planet observed with our naked eyes.
The English names of Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn are respectively: Venus (goddess Venus), Jupiter (the main god Jupiter, also known as Zeus in Greece), Mercury (god envoy ink). Chuli), Mars (Mars, the god of war), and Saturn (Saturn, the god of agriculture).
In fact, the foreign names of the eight planets in the solar system, except the earth, all come from Western mythology. Among them, the Chinese names of five planets are named after the five elements. In addition, the Chinese names of the planets are translated from foreign languages. For example, Uranus is in The corresponding character in the foreign language is Uranus, the god of the sky.
The reason why Uranus, Neptune, and even Pluto did not have names in ancient China is because these planets were invisible to the naked eye (Uranus was at the limit of visibility to the naked eye, but the ancient Chinese did not discover it) until Galileo invented the telescope. Later, they were discovered by Western scientists.
The ancient Chinese used the five elements to name five of the planets, mainly because the ancient Chinese liked to divide things into five types, corresponding to the five elements in the Bagua, for example:
Five colors: blue , red, yellow, white, and black;
Five beasts: Qinglong, Suzaku, Yellow Dragon, White Tiger, Xuanwu;
Five gods: God, Soul, Soul, Will, and Will;< /p>
Five insects: cockroaches, scales, hairs, feathers, and insects;
Wuchang: benevolence, propriety, trust, righteousness, wisdom;
Five directions: east, South, middle, west and north;
Five flavors: sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty;
Five seasons: spring, summer, long summer, autumn and winter;
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In addition, there are five sounds, five smells, five internal organs, five internal organs, etc. Because of this, the five planets visible to the naked eye are naturally connected with the five elements, so people gave them corresponding names based on the color changes they observed.
Venus: Venus is the brightest star and is often white, so it is also named Taibai Venus.
Mars: Mars is dark red, corresponding to fire in the five elements.
Saturn: The color of Saturn is sometimes yellowish, which naturally corresponds to the earth in the five elements.
Mercury: Mercury is gray in color and can be barely related to "black", which corresponds to water in the five elements.
Jupiter: The color of Jupiter is cyan-grey, and cyan corresponds to wood in the five elements.
Of course, the colors of these five planets will change under different observation conditions. The reason why they are connected with the five elements is actually because the ancients suspected that the naming was far-fetched. Moreover, the five planets of metal, wood, water, fire and earth are also different in the solar system. Not in order.
One of the characteristics of the Five Elements is that each attribute is mutually reinforcing and interfering with each other. This idea runs through the entire ancient Chinese philosophy and is applied in many fields such as medicine, agriculture, military, astronomy and so on.