I’ve never realised the distinction between them until a Chinese teacher of mine pointed it out. He just came from China to UK and found it bizarre why we call Tai Ji, Tai Chi? Chi as it is pronounced refers to something else in Mandarin, more commonly written as Qi (or Ki in Japanese). Whereas Ji is what is translated as “ultimate” or “extreme”. You may have heard of Tai Chi Chuan sometimes being referred to as the Grand Ultimate Fist!
So why do we inherit the name Tai Chi? Apparently, it was one type of romanization of the Chinese language (the romanization system is known as the Wade-Giles system). As mentioned in Wikipedia, it’s not useful for teaching Chinese pronunciation! There are more modern romanizations now. I based mine on the Han Yu Pin Yin system I was taught at a very young age. It’s taught mainly to Chinese communities rather than non-Chinese communities. However, since more and more people are taking up Mandarin, it may become de facto standard very soon!
On the topic of definitions, thought you might like to know that Chuan or Quan is commonly translated to fist (as in Grand Ultimate Fist). The fist here actually means that it can be used to punch, i.e. Tai Ji is a martial art, a self-defense system! As with any martial art system, it’ll take years of diligent practice before it can be used in self-defense. You have to be so patient, so calm and so confident that you’re able to “listen” to your opponent in the heat of the battle!
I’m sure more will be blogged about this in the future, but fear not, all practice is not lost. The beauty of Tai Ji is that you’ll benefit if you practise correctly and regularly. So, keep on practising!
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