本文追蹤秦漢時期終始論的結構演變，探求此學說在中國思想史的意義與價值。得知其原型至少可上溯至殷商時期「中央－四方」的宇宙觀，後為戰國秦漢各家思想的共同預設之一。經過騶衍的改造，轉化成用以解釋王朝興衰的歷史循環理論，然而中央至高終極的本體，也因此逐漸隱蔽不彰。逮兩漢儒宗董仲舒以《春秋》建立「元」的思想體系，此絕對超越的宇宙本體，方重新得到顯豁。

The study is focus on the transformation in the structure of the circulation of the five elements in Chin and Han Dynasties, and analyse the significance of the thoughts in the history. We can trace the archtypes to the cosmology “centre and four directions”, and discover that the circulation is the background of the philosophers’ thoughts from the Warring Period to Chin and Han Dynasties. Through Tsou Yen’s（鄒衍）improvements, the circulation is transformed into the cyclical theory of history for explaining the rise and fall of the dynasties, but the “center” is concealed. Until Dong Zhong-shu（董仲舒）, he makes use of “Chun-ciou”（春秋）to build the system of thought “Yuan”（元）, and the “center”is delivered from the concealment.