The Chinese word for "crisis" (simplified Chinese: ??; traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: w?ij?) is frequently invoked in Western motivational speaking as being composed of two Chinese characters respectively signifying "danger" and "opportunity". This is, however, largely incorrect, as the primary meaning of the character pronounced j? (simplified Chinese: ?; traditional Chinese: ?) is not "opportunity".
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Usage
American linguist Benjamin Zimmer has traced mentions in English of the Chinese term for "crisis" as far as an anonymous editorial in a 1938 journal for missionaries in China. But its use probably gained momentum in the United States after John F. Kennedy employed this trope in speeches in 1959 and 1960:
In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters,
one representing danger and the other, opportunity.
Referencing the word has since become a staple meme for American business consultants and motivational speakers, as well as gaining popularity in educational institutions, politics and in the popular press. For example, in 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice applied it during Middle East peace talks. Former Vice President Al Gore did so both in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, in the introduction of An Inconvenient Truth, and in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance lecture.
Benjamin Zimmer attributes the appeal of this anecdote to its "handiness" as a rhetorical device and optimistic "call to action", as well as to "wishful thinking".
Popular mistranslation
Sinologist Victor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania states the popular interpretation of w?ij? as "danger" plus "opportunity" is a "widespread public misperception" in the English-speaking world. While the character w?i (?) does indeed mean "dangerous" or "precarious", the character j? (?) is highly polysemous and does not, in isolation, translate as "opportunity". The confusion no doubt arises from the fact that j? (?) is a component of the Chinese word for "opportunity" j?huì (??, literally "meeting a critical point").
According to the 10th Edition of Xinhua Zidian, the best-selling Chinese dictionary, the character j? (?) in w?ij? (??) means "a point where things happen or change", this meaning appears to be neutral, from which derive two other meanings: "an event that has a confidential nature", and "chance (opportunity), good timing" which appears to be a positive one.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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