The Wǔxíng system was formulated in the second or first century BCE during the Han dynasty. The system is based on the concept of five agents, which were initially associated with the five major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, and Venus) that were believed to have created all earthly life. The word Wǔxíng is comprised of two Chinese characters: "five" (五; wǔ) and "moving" (行; xíng). The character "moving" is a concise representation of the term "planets", as the Chinese word for planets is literally "moving stars" (行星; xíngxīng).

Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts, which date back to before 168 BC, also connect the Wǔxíng system to the wǔdé (五德), or Five Virtues and Five Emotions. Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept of Wǔxíng were merged into a single system with many interpretations during the Han dynasty.

The roots of the Wǔxíng doctrine can be traced back to the earliest recorded ideas, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC, which posited a five-fold structure for the earth's surface (wu fan "five sides", wu feng "five winds or cardinal directions") and classifications of human activity (liu fu "six warehouses", wu cai "five materials"). In the Guanzi (a classic text written between 5th-3rd centuries BC), it is said that Wǔxíng was created by the mythical emperor Huang-di along with the pentatonic music scale and five official ranks.

In this system, Mercury corresponds to Water, Mars to Fire, Venus to Metal, Saturn to Earth, and Jupiter to Wood.