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qīnglíng

qīnglíng+ (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} [→ [restore to initial state | reset (an odometer/clock/etc.) | empty (a bank account) | eradicate (a disease) | (computing) clear; remove (from memory)]] 清零) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Note: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”, tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”.]

As of this writing, nearing the end of the year 2022, the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, to say the least, on people’s minds now for a while. So, it would be good to be able to refer to things related to it in Mandarin when speaking to people in the Mandarin field, or when speaking to our brothers and sisters in the truth.

electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19

An electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19
Creative Commons Attribution License logo NIAID

This week’s MEotW, “qīnglíng (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} [→ [restore to initial state | reset (an odometer/clock/etc.) | empty (a bank account) | eradicate (a disease) | (computing) clear; remove (from memory)]] 清零)”, was mentioned by the website The World of Chinese back in its Dec. 21, 2021 article “Words to Sum Up 2021”. Recently, though, the Chinese government’s zero-COVID policy represented by this expression has become a hot button issue, as demonstrations against it have erupted in several places across China, as well as elsewhere across the globe.

One news service’s YouTube video called these protests “the biggest wave of protests in China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests”. Time will tell what, if anything, becomes of these protests, and what effect, if any, they will end up having on our fellow workers in China.

Short For…

Note that “qīnglíng+ (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} → [eradicate (COVID)] 清零)” is apparently a shortened form representing either of two different longer Mandarin expressions that are used to refer to zero-COVID. For what it’s worth, the Simplified Chinese version of Wikipedia says that mainland China uses “dòngtài (dòng·tài moving · condition → [situation] 动态 動態) qīnglíng (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} → [eradicate (COVID)] 清零)” to refer to zero-COVID, while other places use “qīnglíng (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} → [eradicate (COVID)] 清零) zhèngcè (zhèng·cè government · {bamboo/wooden slip used for writing → [strategy]} → [policy] 政策)” to do so.

To Be Clear

The “qīng ({[is] clear}; {[is] pure}; {[is] clean} [→ [quiet]] | {clear up}; settle [→ [clean up; purge]] 清)” in “qīnglíng (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} [→ [restore to initial state | reset (an odometer/clock/etc.) | empty (a bank account) | eradicate (a disease) | (computing) clear; remove (from memory)]] 清零)” basically means “clear”, used as either an adjective (or stative verb, according to the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary) or a verb. The English word “clear” can similarly be used as a verb or as an adjective. For example, one might say, “I will clear (verb) my schedule so that it is clear (adjective).”

When it’s used to represent zero-COVID, “qīnglíng (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} [→ [restore to initial state | reset (an odometer/clock/etc.) | empty (a bank account) | eradicate (a disease) | (computing) clear; remove (from memory)]] 清零)” is evidently used as a verb. So, in this context, the “qīng ({[is] clear}; {[is] pure}; {[is] clean} [→ [quiet]] | {clear up}; settle [→ [clean up; purge]] 清)” in it would be used as a verb meaning “clear up”.

Incidentally, this “qīng ({[is] clear}; {[is] pure}; {[is] clean} [→ [quiet]] | {clear up}; settle [→ [clean up; purge]] 清)” is also used as the name of the Qīng ([Qing (dynasty that ruled China 1644–1911 C.E.)] 清) (Qing) dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 C.E. to 1911 C.E., and which ended up being the last of the dynasties.

Related Expressions

Some other Mandarin expressions that include the “qīng ({[is] clear}; {[is] pure}; {[is] clean} [→ [quiet]] | {clear up}; settle [→ [clean up; purge]] 清)” in “qīnglíng (qīng·líng {clear up} · {(to be) zero} [→ [restore to initial state | reset (an odometer/clock/etc.) | empty (a bank account) | eradicate (a disease) | (computing) clear; remove (from memory)]] 清零)” are:

  • qīngbái+ (qīng·bái {[is] clear}; {[is] pure}; {[is] clean} · {[is] white} [→ [[is] innocent]] 清白)
  • qīngchú+ (qīng·chú {clear away} · {get rid of}; eliminate; remove 清除)
  • qīngchu+ ({[is] clear}; {is clear about} | clearly 清楚)
Categories
Culture Current Events

qìhòu biànhuà

qìhòu+ (qì·hòu {air → [weather]} · conditions → [climate] 气候 氣候)
biànhuà+ (biàn·huà changing · transforming 变化 變化) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the article “Can the Nations Unite to Avoid Climate Catastrophe?—What Does the Bible Say?”. At certain places where the English version of this article uses the word “climate change”, the Mandarin version uses this week’s MEotW, “qìhòu (qì·hòu {air → [weather]} · conditions → [climate] 气候 氣候) biànhuà (biàn·huà changing · transforming 变化 變化)”.

Interestingly, the Mandarin version of the article at some places also uses the expression “qìhòu (qì·hòu {air → [weather]} · conditions → [climate] 气候 氣候) wèntí (wèn·tí asking · problem → [problem] 问题 問題)”, which basically means “climate problem”, i.e., the current overall problematic situation related to the climate, which many recognize involves global warming.

A Spiritually Problematic Related Expression

The “qì (air; gas; steam; vapour [→ [smell | spirit; morale | vital energy (in Ch. metaphysics) | tone; atmosphere; airs; manner; attitude | anger (v or n); get angry | breath | weather]] 气 氣/气)” in “qìhòu (qì·hòu {air → [weather]} · conditions → [climate] 气候 氣候)” is polysemous, meaning that it has many possible meanings. Christians should be aware that besides the way it’s used in “qìhòu (qì·hòu {air → [weather]} · conditions → [climate] 气候 氣候)”, where its meaning of “weather” seems to have been derived from the basic meaning of “air”, “qì (air; gas; steam; vapour [→ [smell | spirit; morale | vital energy (in Ch. metaphysics) | tone; atmosphere; airs; manner; attitude | anger (v or n); get angry | breath | weather]] 气 氣/气)” is also used as summarized this way by the Wikipedia article on it:

Literally meaning “vapor”, “air”, or “breath”,[source] the word qi is often translated as “vital energy”, “vital force”, “material energy”, or simply as “energy”.[source] Qi is the central underlying principle in Chinese traditional medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The practice of cultivating and balancing qi is called qigong.

How spiritually problematic it can be to mess around with this kind of qì (air; gas; steam; vapour [→ [smell | spirit; morale | vital energy (in Ch. metaphysics) | tone; atmosphere; airs; manner; attitude | anger (v or n); get angry | breath | weather]] 气 氣/气) is further emphasized for us in an article in the August 22, 1986 Awake! magazine. A quote:

There are, for example, masters of the martial arts who can exert what they call ki [qì+ (air; gas; steam; vapour → [vital energy (in Ch. metaphysics)] 气 氣/气)] power. “Learn to flow your ‘ki’ or mind by concentrating on the One-Point [lower abdomen] and stretch your arm out,” instructs Black Belt, a martial arts magazine. “Pretend the water or power is flowing out from the one point through your arm and finger.”

“As long as one continues to train his ‘Ki,’” Black Belt says, “his students will never surpass him. The founder of Aikido [one of the martial arts], Master Morihei Uyeshiba, is over eighty years old, but as yet, no one can face him. He is capable of throwing twenty strong men simultaneously. He has become stronger and stronger as he grows older. …One must accept ‘Ki’ as an addition to your five senses.”

But is the human mind really the source of such extraordinary power? Does it enable persons to perform exploits that cannot be scientifically explained?

Well, consider a case of poltergeist-type activity…

“Use the Force”?

Star Wars fans might recognize some similarities between qì (air; gas; steam; vapour → [vital energy (in Ch. metaphysics)] 气 氣/气) and the Force of that fictional universe. This is not a coincidence. The Wikipedia article on the Force provides these summaries on the inspirations feeding into the concept of the Force:

George Lucas…developed the Force as a nondenominational religious concept, “distill[ed from] the essence of all religions”, premised on the existence of God and distinct ideas of good and evil.[source] …In 1970s San Francisco, where Lucas lived when he wrote the drafts that became Star Wars, New Age ideas that incorporated the concept of qi and other notions of a mystical life-force were “in the air” and widely embraced.[source]

Lucas used the term the Force to “echo” its use by cinematographer Roman Kroitor in Arthur Lipsett’s 21-87 (1963), in which Kroitor says, “Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us, and they call it God”.[source] Although Lucas had Kroitor’s line in mind specifically, Lucas said the underlying sentiment is universal and that “similar phrases have been used extensively by many different people for the last 13,000 years”.[source]

The connectedness between the light and dark sides has been compared to the relationship between yin and yang in Taoism,[source] although the balance between yin and yang lacks the element of evil associated with the dark side.[source] Taylor identifies other similarities between the Force and a Navajo prayer, prana, and qi.[source] It is a common plot device in jidaigeki films like The Hidden Fortress (1958), which inspired Star Wars, for samurai who master qi to achieve astonishing feats of swordsmanship.[source]

Problematic Spiritually, Problematic Transcription

It’s worth noting that “qì+ (air; gas; steam; vapour → [vital energy (in Ch. metaphysics)] 气 氣/气)” is not the “chi” in what in English is called “tai chi”, something that’s also spiritually problematic for true Christians in its own way. The Wikipedia article on tai chi summarizes this confusing situation this way:

Tàijíquán and T’ai-chi ch’üan are two different transcriptions of three Chinese characters that are the written Chinese name for the art form:

Characters Wade–Giles Pinyin Meaning
太極 t’ai chi tàijí the relationship of Yin and Yang
拳 ch’üan quán technique

The English language offers two spellings, one derived from Wade–Giles and the other from the Pinyin transcription. Most Westerners often shorten this name to t’ai chi (often omitting the aspirate sign—thus becoming “tai chi”). This shortened name is the same as that of the t’ai-chi philosophy. However, the Pinyin romanization is taiji. The chi in the name of the martial art is not the same as ch’i (qi 气 the “life force”). Ch’i is involved in the practice of t’ai-chi ch’üan. Although the word 极 is traditionally written chi in English, the closest pronunciation, using English sounds, to that of Standard Chinese would be jee, with j pronounced as in jump and ee pronounced as in bee. Other words exist with pronunciations in which the ch is pronounced as in champ. Thus, it is important to use the j sound. This potential for confusion suggests preferring the pinyin spelling, taiji. Most Chinese use the Pinyin version.[source]

Categories
Current Events

zhízhèng

zhízhèng+ (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 ➕ icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and ➕ Reveal + Symbols re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the article “Which Leader Will You Choose?—What Does the Bible Say?”, because, as the article says, “over the next few weeks, elections will be held in various countries around the world.”. The Mandarin version of this article uses what I think is an interesting expression in this context, this week’s MEotW “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)”.

Related Expressions

The “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” in “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” has original meanings of “catch; capture”, from which are now often derived the meanings “hold [in the hand]; grasp”. It seems that these meanings in turn have led “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” to sometimes be used to effectively mean such varied things as “persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of”. Thus, “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” is a classic example of a word that has undergone what in linguistics is formally called semantic change, that is, changes in the meaning or meanings a word is used to represent.

Interestingly, in Cantonese, but apparently not in Mandarin, “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” also has a meaning of “pick up”. For example, those with Cantonese-speaking parents may have gotten used to being told to “jāp sáu méih (执手尾/執手尾)”, that is, to pick up after themselves or tidy up.

Some other Mandarin expressions that include the “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” in “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” are:

  • zhíbǐzhě+ (zhí·bǐ·zhě {caught → [grasped]} · pen · person → [writer] 执笔者 執筆者)

    • Those who have been in the Mandarin field for a while may have seen this used, for example, in “Shīpiān (Shī·piān {Sacred Song} · {Piece of Writing} → [Psalm] 诗篇 詩篇) zhíbǐzhě (zhí·bǐ·zhě {caught → [grasped]} · pen · person → [writer] 执笔者 執筆者)”, which means “Psalm writer”, or “psalmist”.
  • zhíxíng+ (zhí·xíng {catch → [hold; grasp] → [carry out; implement; execute]} · {go; walk; travel → [do; perform; carry out]} 执行 執行)
  • zhízhǎng+ (zhí·zhǎng {catch; capture → [hold; grasp]} · {(have in) palm (of the hand)} → [wield; be in control of] 执掌 執掌)

    • An example of this expression in use can be found at Daniel 4:26.

A couple of Mandarin expressions that include the other morpheme in “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” are:

  • zhèngfǔ+ (zhèng·fǔ political · {seat of government} → [government] 政府)
  • zhèngzhì+ (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)

Usage Examples

Here are the two examples of “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” being used in the above-mentioned article:

English:

Which Leader Will You Choose?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Nǐ (You 你) Huì (Will 会 會) Zhīchí+ (Zhī·chí Support · {Hold → [Support]} 支持) Shéi (Whom 谁 誰) Zhízhèng (Zhí·zhèng {to Capture → [to Hold]} · {Government → [Political Power]} 执政 執政)?

English:

People are making important decisions about which leaders they will choose.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Rénmen (Rén·men person · [pl] → [people] 人们 人們) jiāng ({are going to} 将 將) zuòchū (zuò·chū make · out 作出) zhòngdà (zhòng·dà weighty · big 重大) de (’s 的) juédìng (decidings → [decisions] 决定 決定): Yào ((they) must → [will] 要) xuǎn+ (choose 选 選) shéi (whom 谁 誰) zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {to capture → [to hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政).