Editing Chinese philosophy (section)

====Naturalists====

{{Main|School of Naturalists}}

The [[School of Naturalists]] or the School of Yin-yang ({{zh|t=陰陽家|p=Yīnyángjiā|w=Yin-yang-chia|l=School of Yin-Yang|c=}}) was a [[Warring States]] era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of [[yin-yang]] and the ''[[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|wuxing]]''; [[Zou Yan]] is considered the founder of this school.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607826/Zou-Yan|title=Zou Yan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=1 March 2011|archive-date=26 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426150251/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607826/Zou-Yan|url-status=live}}</ref> His theory attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic forces in nature: the complementary agents of yin (dark, cold, female, negative) and yang (light, hot, male, positive) and the Five Elements or Five Phases (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth).

In its early days, this theory was most strongly associated with the states of [[Yan (state)|Yan]] and [[Qi (state)|Qi]]. In later periods, these epistemological theories came to hold significance in both philosophy and popular belief.  This school was absorbed into Taoism's alchemic and magical dimensions as well as into the Chinese medical framework. The earliest surviving recordings of this are in the [[Mawangdui Silk Texts|Mawangdui]] texts and ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]''.