东(dōng)
Every day, the sun rises in the east. According to legend, there was once a huge mulberry tree, called “fusang”, which grew out of the eastern sea. This was a magic and mystical tree. Since the sun was believed to rise from the “fusang”, the small seal character was written as “?” , it consists of the characters “日(rì)—sun” and “木(mù)—tree/wood”.

In ancient times, the Chinese people believed that the entire world was composed of five substances or elements: 金(jīn)—metal, 木(mù)—wood, 水(shuí)—water, 火(huǒ)—fire and 土(tǔ)—earth. Each direction represents one of these elements. Eastern China has a relatively earm climate and is well-suited to the growth of trees. Therefore, the east represents “木(mù)—tree/wood”. Trees are green, and green is also the color that represents the east.