Overview
This book is devoted to a topic represented by a single Chinese character: Qi. When presented with the concept of Qi, students of Chinese culture, Chinese medicine, Chinese martial arts, and a wide range of Chinese traditional arts and sciences face a very perplexing challenge. Contemporary linguists hold that if a word or concept can be expressed in any one language or dialect it can be translated into any other language or dialect. However, many who have confronted the problem of how to translate the word Qi could challenge this axiom. While teaching a seminar in the translation of traditional Chinese medical terms and texts at the Chengdu University of TCM, author Ken Rose often discussed with his graduate and post-graduate students the question of how to translate this single word. The consensus developed that it would take an entire book to properly explicate this one word. A Brief History of Qi is this book.
Beginning with an examination of Qi’s linguistic and literary roots, which stretch back through the shadowy mists of Chinese pre-civilization, the book explores concepts from other (non-Chinese) cultures which can be correlated with the ancient Chinese notion of Qi. The authors then trace the development of the concept of Qi through a number of related traditional Chinese disciplines, including painting, poetry, calligraphy, dance, medicine, qi gong, and martial arts, and conclude with an examination of the depth and breadth of Qi as manifested in the cycles of life.
The authors lead readers on an adventure of discovery, demonstrating from many points of view how Qi interconnects the very roots of culture in one of the world’s most enduring civilizations. They present for the first time in English an exhaustive examination of this ancient metaphysical concept. Any reader with an affinity for Chinese culture, Chinese medicine, Chinese martial arts, or any of the many Chinese traditional arts and sciences will find this book stimulating, provocative, useful, and absorbing.
Author Information
Yuhuan Zhang
Author: A Brief History of Qi, Who Can Ride the Dragon
A native of Chengdu, China, Yuhuan Zhang has devoted large part of her life to the movement of translation and transmission of Chinese medicine into the West. In order to better understand the essence of Chinese medicine and Chinese medical linguistics, she studied at the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Chengdu and apprenticed with individual teachers in Chinese acupuncture clinics. She graduated from the Linguistics Department at University of California, Berkeley and for many years worked solely as a writer, translator and editor of books and journals on Chinese medicine, culture and philosophy. She has since co-authored Who Can Ride the Dragon, A Brief History of Qi, Chinese Medical Characters: Vol I-V, translated Manual of Scalp Acupuncture, The Extralinguistic Aspects of the English Translation of Chinese Medical Terminology, etc. She has also served as one of the column editors for Thieme International Publishing Group and assistant editor at Harcourt Health Sciences.
Currently, Yuhuan is a court appointed Mandarin interpreter for the State of Hawaii, and specializes in legal interpreting and translation. She has also forayed into high tech translation and interpreting as her most recent hobby.
Ken Rose
Author: A Brief History of Qi, Who Can Ride the Dragon
Ken Rose spent most of the time between 1992 and 2015 living and studying in mainland China. He is a lifelong student of Chinese thinking, art, and science. He began studying Taijiquan in 1970 and continues to study and teach in Mendocino, California where he operates the Three Springs Institute with his wife, Jessica. From 1992 he studied and taught at the Chengdu University of TCM, specializing in the translation and transmission of Chinese medicine in English. The concerns that motivated his research and writing in Who Can Ride the Dragon and A Brief History of Qi continue to concern him in his work with Elisabeth Rochat on interpreting and teaching the ancient classics in Chinese medical education and practice.
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This is actually a very pretty book with extensive illustrations. For those that do not posses the language skills or the time to research the Chinese notion of qi, A Brief History of Qi provides the results of an expert exploration.
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