In Chinese philosophy, water (水), fire (火), wood (木), metal (金), and earth (土) are five elements that make up the properties of everything in the universe. This episode on the Three Character Classic (三字经) tells the story of the discovery of fire in ancient China. In some cultures, fire was a gift from the gods, but in the ancient Chinese story it’s a discovery of man. This is one of the ways that the centrality of man is highlighted in the Chinese view of the world. The 三字经 was written by the Song Dynasty (宋朝) scholar Wang Yinglin (王应麟). This 1,134 character text was one of the first textbooks used by students, and provided lessons on education, morality and ethics, science, literature, and history.