Qi

The logograph 氣 is read with two Chinese pronunciations, the usual qì 氣 "air; vital energy" and the rare archaic xì 氣 "to present food" (later disambiguated with 餼). Hackett Publishing Company, Philip J. Ivanhoe, and Bryan W. Van Norden theorize that the word qi possibly came from a term that referred to "the mist that arose from heated sacrificial offerings".[11]

Pronunciations of 氣 in modern varieties of Chinese with standardized IPA equivalents include: Standard Chinese qì /t͡ɕʰi˥˩/, Wu Chinese qi /t͡ɕʰi˧˦/, Southern Min khì /kʰi˨˩/, Eastern Min ké /kʰɛi˨˩˧/, Standard Cantonese hei³ /hei̯˧/, and Hakka Chinese hi /hi˥/.

Pronunciations of 氣 in Sino-Xenic borrowings include: Japanese ki, Korean gi, and Vietnamese khí.

Reconstructions of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA transcription include: /kʰe̯i^H/ (Bernard Karlgren), /kʰĭəi^H/ (Wang Li), /kʰiəi^H/ (Li Rong), /kʰɨj^H/ (Edwin Pulleyblank), and /kʰɨi^H/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang).

Axel Schuessler's reconstruction of the Later Han Chinese pronunciation of 氣 is /kɨs/.[12]

Reconstructions of the Old Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA transcription include: */kʰɯds/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang), */C.qʰəp-s/ (William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart), and */kə(t)s/ (Axel Schuessler[12]).

The etymology of qì interconnects with Kharia kʰis "anger", Sora kissa "move with great effort", Khmer kʰɛs "strive after; endeavor", and Gyalrongic kʰɐs "anger".[12]

In the East Asian languages, qì has three logographs:

• 氣 is the traditional Chinese character, Korean hanja, and Japanese kyūjitai ("old character form") kanji
• 気 is the Japanese shinjitai ("new character form") kanji
• 气 is the simplified Chinese character.

In addition, qì 炁 is an uncommon character especially used in writing Daoist talismans. Historically, the word qì was generally written as 气 until the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), when it was replaced by the 氣 graph clarified with mǐ 米 "rice" indicating "steam (rising from rice as it cooks.)" and depicting the Traditional Chinese view of the transformative, changeable nature of existence and the universe.

This primary logograph 气, the earliest written character for qì, consisted of three wavy horizontal lines seen in Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) oracle bone script, Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) bronzeware script and large seal script, and Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) small seal script. These oracle, bronze, and seal scripts logographs 气 were used in ancient times as a phonetic loan character to write qǐ 乞 "plead for; beg; ask" which did not have an early character.

The vast majority of Chinese characters are classified as radical-phonetic characters. Such characters combine a semantically suggestive "radical characters" with a phonetic element approximating ancient pronunciation. For example, the widely known word dào 道 "the Dao; the way" graphically combines the "walk" radical 辶 with a shǒu 首 "head" phonetic. Although the modern dào and shǒu pronunciations are dissimilar, the Old Chinese *lˤuʔ-s 道 and *l̥uʔ-s 首 were alike. The regular script character qì 氣 is unusual because qì 气 is both the "air radical" and the phonetic, with mǐ 米 "rice" semantically indicating "steam; vapor".

This qì 气 "air/gas radical" was only used in a few native Chinese characters like yīnyūn 氤氲 "thick mist/smoke", but was also used to create new scientific characters for gaseous chemical elements. Some examples are based on pronunciations in European languages: fú 氟 (with a fú 弗 phonetic) "fluorine" and nǎi 氖 (with a nǎi 乃 phonetic) "neon". Others are based on semantics: qīng 氫 (with a jīng 巠 phonetic, abbreviating qīng 輕 "light-weight") "hydrogen (the lightest element)" and lǜ 氯 (with a lù 彔 phonetic, abbreviating lǜ 綠 "green") "(greenish-yellow) chlorine".

Qì 氣 is the phonetic element in a few characters such as kài 愾 "hate" with the "heart-mind radical" 忄or 心, xì 熂 "set fire to weeds" with the "fire radical" 火, and xì 餼 "to present food" with the "food radical" 食.

The first Chinese dictionary of characters, the Shuowen Jiezi(121 CE) notes that the primary qì 气 is a pictographic character depicting 雲气 "cloudy vapors", and that the full 氣 combines 米 "rice" with the phonetic qi 气, meaning 饋客芻米 "present provisions to guests" (later disambiguated as xì 餼).

• 
  Oracle bone script for qì depicting the classical three treasures Chinese philosophy
• 
  Bronzeware script for qì
• 
  Large seal script for qì
• 
  Small seal script for qì, simplified Chinese character 气 is based on it.
• 
  Traditional Chinese character 氣 qì, also used in Korean hanja. In Japanese kanji, it was used until 1946 when it was simplified to 気.

Qi is a polysemous word. The unabridged Chinese-Chinese character dictionary Hanyu Da Cidian defines it as "present food or provisions" for the xì pronunciation but also lists 23 meanings for the qì pronunciation.[13] The modern ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, which enters xì 餼 "grain; animal feed; make a present of food", and a qì 氣 entry with seven translation equivalents for the noun, two for bound morphemes, and three equivalents for the verb.

n. ① air; gas ② smell ③ spirit; vigor; morale ④ vital/material energy (in Ch[inese] metaphysics) ⑤ tone; atmosphere; attitude ⑥ anger ⑦ breath; respiration b.f. ① weather 天氣 tiānqì ② [linguistics] aspiration 送氣 sòngqì v. ① anger ② get angry ③ bully; insult.[14]

Qi was also thought of as meaning "'forces in nature'" that gods could control and magicians and occultists could harness.[10]

Qi was an early Chinese loanword in English. It was romanized as k'i in Church Romanization in the early-19th century, as ch'i in Wade–Giles in the mid-19th century (sometimes misspelled chi omitting the apostrophe), and as qi in Pinyin in the mid-20th century. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for qi gives the pronunciation as /tʃi/, the etymology from Chinese qì "air; breath", and a definition of "The physical life-force postulated by certain Chinese philosophers; the material principle." It also gives eight usage examples, with the first recorded example of k'í in 1850 (The Chinese Repository),[note 1] of ch'i in 1917 (The Encyclopaedia Sinica),[note 2] and qi in 1971 (Felix Mann's Acupuncture)[note 3]

The word qi is very frequently used in word games—such as Scrabble—due to containing a letter Q without a letter U.[15]

The traditional Chinese art of geomancy, the placement and arrangement of space called feng shui, is based on calculating the balance of qi, interactions between the five elements, yin and yang, and other factors. The retention or dissipation of qi is believed to affect the health, wealth, energy level, luck, and many other aspects of the occupants. Attributes of each item in a space affect the flow of qi by slowing it down, redirecting it or accelerating it. This is said to influence the energy level of the occupants. Positive qi flows in curved lines, whereas negative qi travels in straight lines.[35] In order for qi to be nourishing and positive, it must continue to flow not too quickly or too slowly.[35] In addition, qi should not be blocked abruptly, because it would become stagnant and turn destructive.[35]

One use for a luopan is to detect the flow of qi.[36] The quality of qi may rise and fall over time. Feng shui with a compass might be considered a form of divination that assesses the quality of the local environment.

There are three kinds of qi, known as heaven qi (tian qi 天气), Earth qi (di qi 地气), and human qi (ren qi 人气).[35] Heaven qi is composed of natural forces including the sun and rain. Earth qi is affected by heaven qi. For example, too much sun would lead to drought, and a lack of sun would cause plants to die off. Human qi is affected by earth qi, because the environment has effects on human beings. Feng shui is the balancing of heaven, Earth, and human qi.

Reiki is a form of alternative medicine called energy healing. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which a "universal energy" is said to be transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient in order to encourage emotional or physical healing. Reiki is a pseudoscience,[37] and is used as an illustrative example of pseudoscience in scholarly texts and academic journal articles. It is based on qi ("chi"), which practitioners say is a universal life force, although there is no empirical evidence that such a life force exists.[4][38] Clinical research has not shown reiki to be effective as a treatment for any medical condition.[4] There has been no proof of the effectiveness of reiki therapy compared to the placebo effect. An overview of reiki investigations found that studies reporting positive effects had methodological flaws. The American Cancer Society stated that reiki should not replace conventional cancer treatment,[39] a sentiment echoed by Cancer Research UK[40] and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.[41] Developed in Japan in 1922 by Mikao Usui,[37] it has been adapted into varying cultural traditions across the world.

According to its believers, Reiki healing occurs by laying hands over or on an individual's area of pain and controlling the universal Qi flow of the nearby space, sending into the area of malaise and purifying it.[42] There is no regulation of the practicing of Reiki in the United States and generally no central world organization that has authority over it.[43][44]

Qìgōng (气功 or 氣功) involves coordinated breathing, movement, and awareness. It is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi. With roots in traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy and martial arts, qigong is now practiced worldwide for exercise, healing, meditation, and training for martial arts. Typically a qigong practice involves rhythmic breathing, slow and stylized movement, a mindful state, and visualization of guiding qi.[45][46][47]

Qi is a didactic concept in many Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese martial arts. Martial qigong is a feature of both internal and external training systems in China[48] and other East Asian cultures.[49] The most notable of the qi-focused "internal" force (jin) martial arts are Baguazhang, Xingyiquan, tai chi, Southern Praying Mantis, Snake Kung Fu, Southern Dragon Kung Fu, Aikido, Kendo, Hapkido, Aikijujutsu, Luohanquan, and Liuhebafa.

Demonstrations of qi or ki are popular in some martial arts and may include the unraisable body, the unbendable arm, and other feats of power. These feats can be explained using biomechanics and physics.[50]

Acupuncture is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves insertion of needles or the application of pinching/gripping into/onto superficial structures of the body (skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles) at acupuncture points to balance the flow of qi. This is often accompanied by moxibustion, a treatment that involves burning mugwort on or near the skin at an acupuncture point.

• Barrett, Timothy (1991). "Daoism". In Hook, Brian; Twitchett, Denis (eds.). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China (2d ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 296–300. ISBN 052135594X.
• Cheng, Chung-ying (2003). "Qi (Ch'i): Vital Force". In Cua, Antonio S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy. New York: Routledge. pp. 615–617. ISBN 978-1-1353-6748-0.
• Liu, Xiaogan (2015). Liu, Xiaogan (ed.). Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy. Vol. 6. Dordrecht: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2927-0. ISBN 978-90-481-2926-3.
• Lloyd, Geoffrey E. R.; Sivin, Nathan (2002). The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09297-0.
• Lloyd, Geoffrey E. R.; Zhao, Jingyi Jenny; Dong, Qiaosheng (2018). Ancient Greece and China Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316091609. ISBN 978-1-107-08666-1.
• Perkins, Dorothy (2013). Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-57958-110-7.
• Wang, Yueqing; Bao, Qinggang; Guan, Guoxing (2020). "Vital Energy (Qi, 气)". History of Chinese Philosophy Through Its Key Terms. Translated by Xiang, Shuchen. Singapore: Springer/Nanjing University Press. pp. 177–190. doi:10.1007/978-981-15-2572-8_14. ISBN 978-981-15-2571-1. S2CID 216180284.